And It Started With A Crush?
by Emerald Moonrose
Summary: All Roxas wanted was for his crush to like him back. What he got was a new group of strange friends, an irritating redhead, a face full of magic, and so much more. AU, kinda maybe potentially crackish.
1. Roxanne

11/6/10: Redid the chapter again. Jeez, I gotta work on my writing. Was this really only around 3,500 words? Jeez. Hope you guys still enjoy it, either way!

Disclaimer: Pretty much obvious, since I wouldn't be calling it fanfiction if it wasn't. Either way, the characters (along with my soul) belong to Tetsuya Nomura and Disney, not me.

* * *

"Aw! So cute!" Naminé squealed. I held back a wince at the high-pitched gleeful mockery in it and tried to ignore her as she bounced on the bed, ecstatic. "Kairi, you are totally awesome at this!"

That enthusiasm? Yeah, every single ounce of that was there to mock me. Even her words had that little barb caught in them. Namine never squealed like that unless she was trying to bother someone. Hell, most of the time she was quiet as a mouse- if only she hadn't gotten the same devious streak that her sister had. Then maybe she would have refrained and enjoyed this less.

Mock. Mock. Mock.

Kairi grinned, pleased with the praise as she bounded back over to the vacant spot on the bed next to Naminé. She gently laced her fingers with her blonde-haired twin, and I marveled for what seemed like the millionth time how eerie it was, seeing how alike they looked. It didn't matter that they didn't have the same color hair like most twins. Namine's blond locks were only sightly longer than Kairi's shoulder length auburn hair, but their cerulean eyes were mirror images, so long as you didn't know them as well. Kairi's had more of a mischievous gleam to them, and Namine's lighter eyes had that quiet intelligence that always made you wary of her. Or, at least, made me wary of her.

"Aren't I?" I flinched at Kairi's words, the reminder of what I was putting myself through. It didn't seem like she noticed, or particularly cared, as she examined me once, then twice, head to toe, then trotted over to pull out a crease in my shirt.

As if her creations could be anything _but _perfect. I rolled my eyes just thinking of it. Kairi was what one could call a perfectionist. If there was even a slight problem with something that she did- like the crease in my shirt- it had to be fixed, right away. If you tried to stop her…well, it's easy to say that it would never turn out well.

She checked my clothes for the last time, scrutinizing every last article of clothing. I couldn't say I truly understood her need to do that. She picked out the clothes, after all- shouldn't she know whether they're good or not just by that? Finally, she nodded, satisfied. "Impeccably picked and placed," she said, almost to herself. Watching her race back to the bed, another wave of foreboding crept through my veins as a triumphant grin slid onto her lips.

"Roxy better be careful!" she announced, her eyes glittering with mischief. "'Cause he's one hot mama!" I groaned at the corniness as Kairi high-fived Naminé. Both girls collapsed into helpless giggles- or, at least, Kairi did. Namine's laughter was much more quiet, as if afraid to make too much noise.

For the first time in the past hour, I glanced into the mirror, feeling my face burn in defeat and humiliation. Sapphire eyes laden with mascara, eyeliner, and matching blue eyeshadow stared back at me, framed by the short, straightened blonde hair being held back by a checkered headband. The girl in the mirror had the perfect body, and the clothes to compliment it: A black and white pleated skirt that fell a little above her perfectly shaven knees, a white shirt with blue trim, and a matching checkered bracelet.

In all, a smoking hot chick.

The problem? I'm a _guy_.

"Why?" I moaned, "Why me?"

* * *

Friday.

That's when it all began. My friends, or rather, friendly acquaintances, and I were hanging out. I say friendly acquaintances because no one at my school had real friends, or at least inside the school system. We all had our separate friends at home, but when we were off campus, just doing nothing, we would randomly get together. It was almost like a promise, that we weren't total losers in society.

There was nothing special about what we did. Just hanging at our local bar, just like every Friday, up to the black X's on our hands. None of us drank, especially considering how underage we were. We could get away with it if we tried, but none of us really wanted to. We were the 'straight edge' group, you could say. None of us cared for drinking. The only reason I came was for the euphoric atmosphere surrounding everyone. Even the calm, quiet people were enjoying themselves, some even becoming as daring as to jump onto the tables, laughing and screaming.

I glanced over in amusement at a boy who fit the description perfectly. A normally stoic Senior from the local college at the table in front of me was, well, standing on it. His hair flailed around wildly as he tried to maintain his balance and was losing the fight. A chuckle escaped me as I realized the guy was very, very drunk. He was laughing as hard as anyone else, even when he tried to step off the table onto a chair. He ended up missing entirely and landed sprawled on the floor, but didn't miss a beat before standing up and stumbling, singing something that sounded vaguely like the Oscar Meyer song, although I couldn't be too certain.

The mood was infectious, and even sober I found myself just as cheery as any drunk person could be. I kept my eyes on the table the senior was at, seeing if there was anything else going on, and my eyes caught with those of another, a slate haired boy with only one stormy blue eye visible. The other was covered by a curtain of hair, but it surprisingly only made him look intelligent, not emo like the stereotype decreed the style to be.

He had been looking straight at me, and when I returned the cool gaze, he gave me a nod. I waved back in response, finally recognizing him from our neighboring school, Hallow High.

When he tapped the chair next to him and grinned wryly, I didn't pass up the offer and slid into the indicated seat. An amused smile lit up his face and he shook his head in mock despair. "Must be amazingly bored," He drawled, his voice quiet but controlled. "Sitting by a complete stranger. I could have been calling you over for a booty call. You really should be careful."

I chuckled, ducking under an arm flung in my general direction. "Must be just as bored, to invite someone you don't know to sit next to you. I could have been waiting for that and was about to jump you. What would Mommy say?" I mocked him slightly, a cheeky grin on my face. He snickered.

"Touché." By then I had realized that he was every bit as sober as I was. His eyes were completely clear, and every word leaving his mouth was carefully articulated, completely thought out. This guy most likely has never had a single drop of alcohol in his life. "My name is Zexion."

"I know." Slight surprise flitted across his pale features. When he opened his mouth to respond, I added, "Your school is close to mine." His face cleared, and he nodded in understanding. "My name is Roxas. Not Roxy, not Roxanne, _Roxas._"

We hit it off from there. Zexion was a 17-year-old Junior, but was smart enough to skip school entirely and go straight to college. His I.Q. was incredibly high, and he didn't even have to study for any of the tests. The only reason he went to school was 'to have a sense of normality', a hope I sympathized with.

And I was right about him: He'd never drank anything before in his life. He only came along for the rest of the group, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy himself. ("I like having a bit of blackmail on my friends." He only had one eye showing, but I'm positive he just winked at me. "The ability to persuade someone to help you in exchange for keeping quiet tends to come in handy, from time to time.") In all, Zexion was a pretty good guy.

"D'ya have any siblings?" We had taken to asking each other questions. This time, it was my turn. Zexion shrugged, deadpan.

"I have a brother," He said, glancing away. "He isn't here right now, but I know you wouldn't like him. He's cocky, arrogant, and a bit of an ass." He chortled. "I guess it comes with his football status. He's not that bad when you get to know him."

My interest twinged. "What's his name?"

He sighed, suddenly less joyful. "His name's Riku. He goes to the same school as me. Same grade too."

My head spun. Suddenly, I found it hard to focus on anything as his words sunk in. I was talking to Riku's brother. Riku, who was the stud of the town, and currently my first infatuation.

Okay, so you know my comment of 'bi guy'? Well, Riku is the only reason I considered myself so. Pretty damn amazing feat, and and he stands up to par. Perfect voice, perfect personality, perfect everything in general.

I focused back on reality when I found a slender hand waving in front of me. The hand was attached to none other than Zexion, and I looked up into his concerned expression. "Are you okay?" His voice was completely normal, despite his slightly worried demeanor. "You suddenly got all flushed…"

I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks as understanding lit up his eyes and he started chuckling, all traces of concern gone. Suddenly, it was like talking to Namine all over again; it didn't matter that he wasn't laughing at me outright. The quiet chuckles had the same exact effect.

"Riku." I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye as embarrassment flowed through me. "You like _Riku._" He shook his head, the action seemingly half in disbelief, half in amusement. "It never fails, you know. Not once." He didn't elaborate, and I shot him a questioning look.

"What never fails?"

Zexion gave me a somber gaze, quiet mirth still there. "Every year," He began slowly, "Some boy always falls for Riku. Ever since he was seven, one boy every year approaches him, or has hopes of it. His pretty boy looks and strange attitude may give off a gay vibe, but he's as straight as an arrow."

All of my hopes crumbled with those last four words. _Straight as an arrow._ "Oh…" I mumbled, my head down. Nothing else came out of my mouth. It wasn't needed, after all.

From underneath my curtain of hair I saw Zexion's stare turned thoughtful, then calculating. "Maybe," He mused, his fingertips resting on his chin. "It doesn't have to be that way. This arrow has a slight fracture." My head shot up hopefully, and throbbed at the quick movement.

An almost hidden smirk drifted across his face at my reaction. "One boy succeeded at seducing our favorite jock at a party. A real cutie, devious too. Got him incredibly intoxicated, then jumped him. Riku enjoyed every second of it, despite not remembering the whole night the day after."

"Who was the boy?" I asked curiously. He shook his head and shrugged in denial.

"I don't know. I never saw him again after that party. But that's not the point. The point is, he has the possibility of being bisexual, if you can convince him. And, let's be honest, you just want to date him. You don't want to marry the guy, right?"

I thought about it. "Well, since gay marriage isn't legal…"

"Oh shut up."

I laughed. "Sorry, continue."

He rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. At least, I could only guess he rolled both- it'd take a ton of talent to only roll one. I had to stop myself from wondering if that was even possible as he continued, "_Anyways_, since you're not looking for long term, my plan will work perfectly. Riku, as I stated before, won't notice a guy. Or, for that matter, someone who doesn't go to our school. So, your only hope is to-"

"Transfer to your school and pose as a female," I finished, catching on quickly. He nodded, and I could feel the blood that had rushed to my cheeks leaving just as quickly at the thought. "How degrading…" I murmured, eliciting a snicker from the other male.

"But worth it. Right?" His gaze was mocking me, daring me to say no.

"Let's go for it." His face eased into amusement and slight shock at my complete lack of hesitation. I let a smirk glide over my face in triumph, leaning back in the chair relaxedly. "What's there to lose? Beside," I added, "I always wondered what it would be like to be a member of the female population."

Zexion laughed, placing his elbows on the table. "Well, I guess that this would be your chance…_ Roxanne."

* * *

_

With that, my life was changed. I talked to my entire family about it over dinner, and, to put it lightly, they were impressed.

_"Whoa! Roxy's gonna get himself laid!"_

_ "Shut up, Sora."_

_ "What? I'm just sayin'!"_

_ "Roxas, are you sure you want to do this?"_

_ "Which part? The catching the guy part or the cross-dressing part?"_

_ "Both."_

_ "Honestly, Dad, I'm still wondering if I was high when I agreed-"_

_ "Roxy got high?"_

_ "Shut up, Sora! No, I did not get high. Dad, the answer is yes."_

_ "…Well, I can't stop you from doing anything you want to, but your mother has to agree."_

_ "What? Roxy's allowed to transfer schools to chase his straight boyfriend and all that but I can't even get an after-school job? That is so wrong! I'm older than him too! Sexist! Sexist!"_

_ "Sora. Shut up. For one, you're barely two minutes older than me. Two, as you should know, I'm a guy."_

_ "No you're not! You're a freakin' girl! It's okay though, you don't have to lie to impress us. We all know you suck at life."_

_ "Shut up Sora!"_

_ "I think it's beautiful."_

_ All heads turned to face the lone female of the house, stunned. Sora was the first to speak up._

_ "You think Roxy being a girl is beautiful?"_

_ "You know what Sora? I am so close to grabbing this chicken's spine and shoving it up your-"_

_ "Roxas!"_

Either way, I was granted permission, to Sora's eternal annoyance, and was promptly transferred to Hallow High. I was just lucky that summer break was just about to end there, so I wouldn't have to catch up with anything. Just another new student. Simple enough.

Looking back, I realized that I probably should have gone to the school, check out the campus, at_ least _call Zexion to find out where he would be in order not to get lost. This school was psychotic, and dwarfed my old school three times over. _Over 3,000 students? Check. Huge scheme in order to get Riku to fall in love with me? Check. Prepared? Oh _hell_ no._

My eyes drifted across the school, trying to find someone I knew, or, at least, the office. So far, nothing. Nobody had even tried to approach me as of yet, and I was happy to keep it that way. I was a_ lona'_.

Er. Loner.

Since it always worked in movies, I closed my eyes, spun in a circle with my finger out, then stopped abruptly. I opened my eyes, saw that I was facing the same direction as I was in the first place, and shrugged, trotting forward. _Well, maybe it was the right way all along._ I thought hopefully. It didn't occur to me at the time that it was a silly thing to do- after all, it worked in movies, so therefore it should work in real life.

After about ten steps (not that I was counting), I stopped again. Screw movies, that totally didn't help me at all. All it did was make the school look even more intimidating, and I was still unable to find the stupid office. _Damn it, Zexion…_

"Hey!" I raised an eyebrow at the suddenly booming voice behind me and felt sorry for the person that he was attempting to get the attention of. Don't people have something better to do, other than bugging others?

"Hey! You! Blondie!" It only took me a few more seconds to realize that he was, in fact, talking to me. Suddenly, that pity changed into mild irritation.

_Maybe if I ignore him he'll go away…_

"Don't you dare ignore me! Little brat!"

Spinning on my heel, I began glaring at nothing in particular, scanning the crowd for the likely offender. "I am not a brat!" I snarled angrily. I think I heard some people laugh softly at me, but disregarded most of them. Instead, I focused on the blond a few feet behind me, walking in my direction.

He was several inches taller than me, and his hair… Oh man, his_ hair. _It kinda looked like it had an accidental run-in with a lawn mower- but only on the sides of his head. On the top, it was spiked up in small little strands, with a few hanging down into his face. Matched with his sea foam green eyes, his ripped jeans, and his black short sleeved shirt on top of a white long sleeved shirt, it gave him an almost skater look.

"Chillax, girlie! Just wanted to welcome you to the school!" He laughed, then held out his hand for me to take. I glared at it, then at him, completely disregarding the outstretched limb. I couldn't help myself from still being slightly angry about the 'brat' comment. This seemed to amuse him even more as he grabbed my hand, forcing me to shake it.

"Weeeeeell," He started, drawing out the E, "Since someone didn't take their nice girl pills today-" Unwillingly, I blushed at the mere thought. They have pills for that? "I'll do the talky-talky. What's your name, sweetheart?"

_Sweetheart?_ I regained possession of my hand, not certain whether to be glad someone came to help me, or crept out by the only person to approach me. "It's Roxanne," I finally said, careful to keep my voice sounding at least a bit feminine.

He looked delighted. _"Roxy,"_ He purred, trying it out on his tongue. He grinned. "Then chill out Foxy Roxy!" A laugh broke out of him, and I inched back slightly, uncertain of how to deal with him. Even with my experience with Sora, I was unprepared for this. Once again I found myself cursing Zexion and his lack of helpfulness.

"But yeah." The blond seemed to get a little more serious as he adapted an all-knowing smirk, a change that I was uncertain whether or not it bothered me more. "My name is Demyx. I have a feeling we'll be hanging out quite a bit."

* * *

Most annoying word in the world? Crept. I swear, it doesn't look like it should be the past tense version of 'creep'. Seriously.


	2. Mind Games

First off: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys are awesome.

Reason for this chapter taking forever? One word: Repo! Killer soundtrack, and I adore Shilo and Graverobber. Oh, and Amber. Awesomeness in a movie.

Standard disclaimer, and here you guys go!

* * *

A pause. I took in what he said, and my eyes narrowed. _Why would I hang out with someone like him?_ I opened my mouth to respond to him, but was interrupted by a familiar voice. "Roxanne?" I literally melted in relief as I turned around. There Zexion stood, a bemused look on his face as he raised a single eyebrow at the scene in front of him.

A high-pitched squeal sounded from behind me, and I saw a blur from the corner of my eye before Demyx latched onto Zexion, as if triggered by some strange switch. "Zexy!" He cooed, nuzzling the boy's cheek with his nose. Pure adoration was shining in his eyes as he withdrew, leaving Zexion's face a slight tinge redder. What are these guys to each other? "You know Roxy? I just met her! I'm glad she finally came! I mean, I was with her, and it was all like, whoosh!" He made an elaborate hand gesture, throwing his hands in the air.

Zexion laughed softly, peeling the blond off of him like a second skin. "I think she prefers Roxanne, Demyx. And yes, I know her. I met her yesterday."

"She said it was okay to call her Roxy though! Didn't you?" He turned to me, those big blue puppy eyes staring at me.

I stifled a laugh, recognizing how familiar that was. _It's like looking at me or Sora all over again._ "I guess it'd be okay," I relented, almost regretting it when Demyx let out another happy squeal and launched himself at me. He was barely stopped by Zexion, who held onto the back of his shirt like a leash.

"Thank you Roxy! You won't regret it, I swear!" Zexion rolled his eyes, an amused look on his face as Demyx continued trying to hug me. Zexion let go of the shirt, and Demyx sprawled to the ground, face first. This time I couldn't stop the snickers as Demyx's muffled declarations of 'objection!' came through. Even Zexion cracked a smile before ignoring him.

"Roxanne, I'm pretty certain you already know Demyx's name, but I am pretty certain you're wondering why I am friends with someone of such low intelligence-"

Demyx gave a squawk of indignation, interrupting Zexion.

"I wasn't done yet, Demyx."

Cue silence.

Zexion continued. "Or makes it seem like he has low intelligence. This is my best friend, Demyx. We have been friends for a long time. A really long time." Demyx gave a two finger wave, a sharp greeting that matched his personality perfectly while getting up. "Demyx, this is Roxanne. She's transferring to our school for the year, and is in our grade."

Demyx laugh jovially, obviously thrilled. "Kickass! I don't know what possessed you to come here-" He leaned in close, whispering the next part- "We have our share of freaky students." He drew back and continued. "You have no freakin'_ idea_ what you're getting into, but this'll be one hellova year!" He added on a whoop at the end.

Needless to say, after that speech, I was finding myself a teensy bit nervous. What was I getting into? I mean, sure, this is Riku we're talking about here, but if I have to go through insanity and end up in an asylum… There will be hell to pay. Besides, I have a feeling about this place, and it's not exactly something I'd categorize as 'Happy happy joy boom go whee!'

As quoted by Sora, of course. You didn't seriously think I came up with that, did you?

"Whatever," Demyx interrupted my thoughts, his eyes sparkling. "I can just promise you, you're gonna have a good time. Like, majorly so." I shifted the strap of my messenger bag again, uncomfortable with the idea.

"Have you gotten your schedule yet, Roxanne?" Zexion asked gently, bringing all attention back to him. I shook my head, biting my lower lip. At least now I had someone to show me to the office, instead of me wandering around like an idiot. Still, that means that I have to go…

_Inside._

Okay, scary thought over.

"…escort you to the office," Zexion was telling me, looking amused for some reason. "Is that all right with you?"

Jerking to attention, I nodded. "Yeah, of course! I was honestly having troubles finding it before." I laughed, rubbing my hair sheepishly. Ugh, straightened hair… It smells burnt too. No guy should have to go through this, seriously.

Zexion's lip twitched again before he turned to Demyx. "Demyx, will you save me a spot in Geometry? I have a feeling it will be a while before we both get to class."

Demyx nodded, albeit reluctantly. "'Kay, Zexy." He brightened up after a few seconds. "I'll save a spot for both you and Roxy! Love ya!" He kissed Zexion on the cheek softly, then me as he turned around and raced towards the main building, giving one last wave before he actually went inside.

I wiped off my cheek in minor disgust as I noticed Zexion just watching the fleeing boy, a slightly forlorn look on his face and a faint tinge of red across his cheeks. Bingo.

"So…" I drawled, leaning in on his shoulder, startling him. "When's the baby due?" I laughed as Zexion's frowned in response and jumped back before he could swat at me.

"Ooh, talk about uncharacteristic. Might wanna watch that, Zexy."

Surprisingly, he didn't retaliate any more, just sighed and flipped his hair, where it feel back in place. "Consider yourself lucky I am not violent. As for what you said, we are just friends. Nothing more."

I studied his face, then smiled smugly. "Might wanna try that without the blush." At his glare, I shook my head. "Just kidding, man. You guys aren't even going out, are you?" He studied me scrutinizingly, then sighed, a light smirk on his face.

"You know, you don't even have at act to pretend to be a girl. You already have everything down. Strange, yes, but convenient." This time it was my face that turned pink.

"Up yours, pretty boy."

He shook his finger at me mockingly. "Now, now, I'm certain there is someone else you would want to do that to. Namely Riku." I looked down angrily, unable to come up with a proper response to that. _Just because I like him doesn't mean I want to sleep with him _didn't seem like it would be proper. "As for your question, no, we are not. We are just close friends."

I shook my head slowly. "I don't get it. It's obvious you like him, and he's all over you, so it's not like you guys don't want it to be like that. Why don't you just ask him?"

Zexion hesitated, then turned away, a dark cloud drifting over his face. "Silly boy. It's much more complicated than that." A low laugh escaped him, even though it was obviously not an amused one. "So much more."

Silence. I was tempted to ask him more, but with one look, I stopped. The dark cloud hadn't stopped at his face. Instead it shrouded his whole body, a cloak of… anger? Sadness? I couldn't tell. I mean, it wasn't like you could really see it. It was just there.

Or maybe I'm just going psycho.

Closing my eyes for a few seconds, I shook my head, clearing my vision. "Could you help me get my schedule?" I asked quickly. I may not be the most perceptive person in the world, but I seriously didn't like Zexion when he was like this. It was, well, not quite scary, but close enough, and I knew when to back off.

My distraction worked as he looked up at me and nodded, completely neutral again. "Of course. It's right over here." Gently, he grabbed my wrist and started walking. Immediately I saw a bright green sign on top of a building. On it, in bright white capitals, was the word "Office".

Right there. In front of me.

I blanched. "How the hell did I manage to miss that?"

Once again, the tell-tale twitch of Zexion's lips showed that he was smirking as he kept a hold on me. "I honestly do not know. Maybe comprehensible thought process is too hard for you to handle after all…"

* * *

As we walked through the bright green double doors, my eyes were immediately drawn to the walls. Posters of what I was guessing to be our football team were all over, declaring win after win for the school. The only person I recognized was Riku-

Wait, lemme have time in which I melt into a little fanboyish ball of ooze… Sigh.

Okay, done, continuing.

I didn't know any other people on the football papers, and when I slid a quick glance at the softball group, I got the same result. I may have seen them at the front of the school, but there was no knowing, with a school this big,

That's when I thought of something. "Hey, Zex. What's your mascot?"

Zexion glanced back, still dragging me across. "We're the home of the Flaming Moogles." He pointed to a banner placed on top of the three windows where the office was, and I nearly choked in laughter at what I saw.

Stretched across all three windows was a bright yellow banner, with neon green writing proclaiming "Go Flaming Moogles!". On it was a sketch of the strange creature, with a football in his hand. Teddy bearish things, with creamy tan fur, a red ping-pong ball attached to their head and bat wings on the back. Had I been a girlier man, I would be calling them adorable. As it is, they're pretty damn cute.

I slid my eyes casually back down towards Zexion. "No wonder everyone is so _flaming_ here. Talk about school spirit." Zexion snickered, then pulled me over to one of the office windows. Inside, there was a young lady with blonde hair, and braids going down the side of her face. Sparkling blue eyes looked at us curiously, and even working I could see that she was joyful- or content, at the very least.

Getting up, she opened the window and smiled happily at us. "Hello! Zexion told me to watch for you! My name's Rikku. You're Roxanne, right?" I nodded hesitantly, unsure of what to do. It wasn't like I had switched schools before, so I was unused to the whole idea. "Okay! Just wait a second dear, I'll go grab your stuff." With that, she took off into one of the back offices.

Silence. Finally I asked, "Are they all like that, Zex?"

Zexion shook his head, his hair going with it. "No," He confirmed. I sighed in relief, then froze as he nonchalantly mentioned, "No, she is one of the more docile ones."

Before I had a chance to say anything else, Rikku came back to the window, carrying four books, along with a sheet of paper on top. "Here you go!" She chirped cheerily, setting the hardbacks down with a heavy thump. "Zexion, I would show Roxanne around to her classes, but I'm an upper classman- Don't give me that look, I'm only a Senior," She added, giving me a half amused, half annoyed glance at my surprise. What can I say? She looked so much older. Well, not that much older, but older than high school.

"As I was saying." She continued, "Zexion, I am trusting you with Roxanne. Will you be her knight in shining armor?" I was about to protest, but stopped when I saw her face. She was holding her breath, her eyes glimmering about as brightly as the supposed knight she wanted Zexion to be. What was I supposed to do, break her heart?

I heard a sigh next to me, Zexion, no doubt. I turned to face him, fully expecting him to say no. I was shocked when he faced me, a coy half-smirk on his face as he took my hand. Bending down, he kissed it softly, then gazed up at me from underneath his eyelashes. "I'll protect her with my life," He murmured solemnly, loud enough for her to hear. The only thing showing that he was kidding was the somehow childish, but at the same time mature mischief in his eyes.

It didn't stop me from turning a nice bright shade of red, though.

That seemed to be what Rikku was looking for as she squealed excitedly, then sighed as Zexion withdrew. She was practically swooning at what I guessed was a 'romantic' scene "I knew I could depend on you, Zexy," She said, still in the happy daze. Then, she shook her head to get out of it, then shot me a smile. "Roxanne, if you ever need help around, or just want someone to chat to, just come to the office and ask for Rikku, okay?"

I nodded and smiled back. What? She was being so nice! What else was I supposed to do? Stay away because she could find out I'm a guy in disguise and totally ruin my cover, stopping me from ever being with Riku, who, for some strange reason, had the same name as her?

Oh. Um. Maybe that would be a good idea after all.

"Roxanne." I stopped thinking and twisted back to face Zexion, realizing he had yet to let go of my hand.

This time it was my turn to smirk, glancing down at our hands, then back up. "Is your hand lonely?" I cooed teasingly, enjoying his response as he dropped my hand like a hotcake, looking almost disgusted.

Another delighted squeal told me that Rikku was still watching, and as I looked up she dramatically placed her hand where her heart was, like in the movies. "Ah… Teenage love," She sighed, then went inside, presumably to get back to work. I don't know exactly how she got that from Zexion being all disgusted, but hey, at least she still thinks I'm a girl.

Besides, it gave me a chance to tease Zexion more. "I believe she wants Demyx in here for that."

Zexion's face was the one to tinge pink this time, and he swatted my head lightly. I squeaked in indignation and pawed at him. He took a step back and laughed quietly at my incapability. Before I could retaliate more, Rikku came back, carrying a carrying a piece of paper.

"I forgot to give you your schedule!" She laughed at herself, shaking her head. "Silly me. If I forgot anything else, just come to the office whenever. I'll write you a pass, okay?" I nodded, and she left once more, closing the window.

"Well," I started, taking a quick glance at the schedule. "This should be simple enough. Unless I have to hold your hand the whole way, since someone wouldn't let go. Do you want me to hold on to it for you?"

"I would think not, Roxanne." Cheeriness gone, I gritted my teeth as he reminded me for the umpteenth time what I had gotten into. Zexion stole a glance at Rikku, who had returned to her textbook work, before saying anything else. "For one, females are not attractive to me, and two, if my hand was in any event lonely, you are not the person I would want to keep it company."

I laughed, amused at his reaction. "Ooh, major burn! Zexy doesn't love me!" I jutted my lower lip out into a pout, and Zexion chuckled softly, taking my schedule and not even bothering to respond. I looked over his shoulders as he read it, figuring out my classes.

_Geometry- Cid Highwind_

_Chemistry- Rinoa Heartilly_

_Theatre- Cid Highwind_

_Physical Education- Tifa Lockhart_

_Social Studies- Cloud Strife_

_English– Aerith Gainsborough_

_Literature- Yuffie Kisaragi_

I frowned. "Zex? I have Mr. Highwind twice." I didn't care about the fact that I didn't have any advanced classes in Math. I had already finished Calculus 2 in my previous school instead of taking the other electives. That didn't stop me from being confused at the math that I actually did have on there. "And I have geometry. I already finished it."

Zexion glanced at it again. "You're lucky. You have the same schedule as Demyx and I." He avoided the question at first, and I cleared my voice for him to continue. "Our school is a bit low on teachers, so some teach different classes. They also use geometry as an elective." He silenced my question with a look. "You want Cid as a teacher, no matter what. You'll see why when we get to his class."

We went down a large hallway, filled with lockers. "Rikku forgot to give you a locker, so I am going to let you share with me or Demyx," He told me, not bothering to pause in his walking. I counted six doors before he finally stopped in front of one. "Ah, here it is-"

Zexion's voice was drowned out as a booming voice echoed through the empty hallway when he opened the door. "_DEMYX_!" I flinched. Who the hell was that? And is it physically possible to be that loud without a loudspeaker or something?

"Zex… Please tell me that's not our math teacher." His lip twitched and he chose not to respond, instead leading me inside the classroom, where posters were plastered all over the wall, showing formulas, multiples, squares, and declaring how awesome the teacher was, who was…

Oh god.

"I see that look of confusion on your face! You're completely stumped!" I found the owner of the booming voice as I walked into the classroom. It came from a blond haired older man, about in his fifties, yelling to a huge class with a toothpick in his mouth.

Yep, you guessed it. Cid Highwind, Geometry teacher, complete psycho, or just kind of traumatizing. I could already sense the million kinds of fun this would be.

I scanned the room for Demyx, and spotting him, I found him leaning back in his chair, a smug but indifferent look on his face. "I'm already done," He informed the man, flashing a piece of paper with writing scrawled messily all over the front before placing it back down.

The man was silent. "… Oh."

He grinned at Demyx, who mirrored the action before leaning back too far. His arms flailed in the air as he desperately tried to keep his balance. He made a comic picture, thrashing around for a few seconds before falling down entirely with a huge thud. A few seconds passed, then Demyx popped up, the signature grin still on his face. "I'm okay!"

Snickers sounded around the class as Demyx propped the seat back up, not a single ounce of embarrassment on his face. He just laughed sheepishly and scratched the back of his head before sitting down again, putting it on the two back legs once more.

Zexion shook his head at the idiocy, but the action was betrayed by the half smile on his lips as he coughed, effectively gathering the teacher's attention. "Cid, we have a new student." He stepped aside to show me to the man, which I had now discovered was my new teacher.

I delivered a glare to the slate haired boy, but he just shrugged and mouthed, _"Not my problem."_

Back stiffening automatically at Mr. Highwind's approach, I found myself holding my breath as he scrutinized me, his eyes leering down at me. For the millionth time, I cursed my shortness as I cowered below him, his icy blue eyes glaring into my own.

"What's your name, Blondie?" He finally asked, standing straight once more. I was torn between sighing in relief or gritting my name at the horrendous nickname.

"Roxanne, sir," I responded carefully, keeping all resentment out of my words. Mr. Highwind made some sort of strange noise- I think that it was either him saying his disapproval, or he just sneezed at me.

I'm hoping for the sneeze.

"It's Cid, Blondie." He flicked the toothpick in his mouth lightly, leaning down as if to see if I got it. "Use this 'Mr. Highwind' or 'Sir' crap, and I will make sure you die a long, terrifying, painful death. Got it? It makes me feel old."

"Sir, you _are_ old."

Laughter erupted through the classroom as Cid whirled around for the culprit. "Ingstrom!" His voice boomed through the room, causing me to flinch once more. I did better than the others, though, as an apparently napping student jerked awake and fell out of his chair with a loud thump. "Say that again, and I'll karate chop your eye out!"

He held up his hand karate-style, making a "Wrahhh!" sound, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. This didn't seem to intimidate anyone, as it brought on another wave of that infectious laughter that even I joined in on.

Eventually, even Cid cracked a smile. While everyone was distracted, he leaned down in my direction and murmured quietly into my ear, "I know you're a new student, and since you have Zexion as your guide, you should be fine, but if you ever need someone to go to for anything, just know I'm here most of the school day. Okay?"

I glanced up, shocked at his concern, but nodded. Two people looking out for me that have power. Score. He straightened up and also nodded, surprisingly gentle for such an eccentric teacher.

"Good. I'm pretty sure molluted freak over there is saving a spot for you two, considering he practically assaulted-"

I jumped as a sudden crash echoed through the room and, no surprise, I heard Demyx screaming. What was surprising was what he was screaming. Was he really…?

"Are you _deaf_, you idiot? These seats are fucking SAVED, you assholes! Got it? Scram!"

Yep, he was. My eyes widened in shock as I realized that Demyx was standing on his chair. Another chair was in his hands, and he fiercely swung at the boy again, narrowly missing his face.

The kid fell backwards over himself, then scampered to the back of the room as quickly as possible, taking refuge behind Cid's desk. A glance to Cid told me that he was completely fine with this new arrangement, as was the rest of the class. Was this normal?

Jumping off the chair to sit down, Demyx waved over to us frantically, the murderous expression that was on his face previously had completely evaporated as he sing-songed, "Zexy, Roxy! I got the seats!"

Seeing that I was too horrified to walk on my own volition, Zexion grabbed my wrist, dragging me over with an unsympathetic "You'll get used to it." I sat down in the offered chair and made sure to take special attention as the class began.

If you were to ask me what had happened in there, I could honestly say that I had no clue. By the time the class ended, I was speechless. I now knew what Zexion had meant by "You want Cid as a teacher, no matter what", and, frankly, I agreed. His eccentricities made the entire period… well, all I could say was that Cid certainly had a unique approach to teaching. I ignored Demyx's ramblings as I thought back to it, making sure I didn't forget anything. I wanted to tell Sora everything.

Between Cid making chainsaw noises to cut the principal in half in a 'cage fight' (something the principal viewed with amusement as he stood in the doorway to watch), and him having the class speak all at the same time to create an "I, Robot" effect, it was a full period. Not to mention the whole B-squared story he gave us to explain square-root prisons…

_"I'm not sure if you guys knew," He started, standing at the white board, "But back when I was younger and in prison, my name was Brianna." A ripple of amusement ran through the class. "My prison mate- well, I had two, but there was only one I hung out with- his name was Bethany. The place we were in? We called it the square root prison._

_"We were top dogs there, totally badass." Cid never bother censoring his words; anyone who cared didn't say anything, and the rest of us thought it was hilarious. "While everyone was busy running around, doing laps, push ups and bench-presses, we just stood there, arms crossed, watching everyone run around like idiots. We were the bomb. We were so bad that when we crossed our arms, we didn't do that soft thing with the arms all flabby-" He demonstrated this, to everyone's enjoyment, "-No, we had fists, not even joking. We were hardcore savages. We were known as B squared._

_"You could understand how we both hated it there, despite us being the top of the pack. Together, we both tried to devise a way out of the place, but it was incredibly hard. The fence was 50 feet tall, and filled with one million watts to keep us in._

_"Then, I had an epiphany. I was the strongest, the fastest, and the best prisoner there. According to Physics, if something were to hit the fence, all the electric currents would get caught there and continue to until the fence was turned off or the object was removed. I could jump high, probably nail it in three jumps, no problem._

_"So, I came up with a plan to get me out of there. One day, we did the same exact thing we did everyday- stand around and look tough. Bethany was standing where he normally did, by one of the walls. I stood on the other side, just watching. Suddenly, I started running, faster and faster, using my speed to move quicker and quicker towards the unsuspecting Bethany. He didn't know what happened until I slammed into him, propelling him into the wall. He started screaming like 'yahh!'"_

_Cid did the impression of 'Bethany's' face, eyes bulging, vein standing out in his neck. "And so I jumped up, woomph, woomph, woomph, and I was over. The men behind me started shooting at me, so I hid behind one of the cows that were in the pasture there, and planned on using one of the kids playing by the prison as a shield._

_"After that, I started using my legendary deer-run, and ran away from there. Later on I found a ship builder by the name of Cid Highwind, and, well, the rest is history. Moral of the story? Squares can get out of square root prisons."_

That was only one of the lessons he taught that day, but the rest were jumbled up in between everything else he did.

"Roxy? We're here!" Demyx's perky voice stunned me out of my reverie, and I glanced around the room. Chemistry.

I never was a big fan of science, but this seemed okay, with the beakers and everything set out for a lab. This seemed like a perfect class, instead of some of the others I had seen, the ones that had only notes, no experiments, nothing. This class had everything. Just like the Geometry classroom, it had posters in there showing formulas, the table of elements, everything.

As I sat down in one of the desks, I threw a glance at Zexion. Surprisingly silent for someone who got me into this mess, he was already writing in a journal of some sort, making feverish marks and sometimes scribbling out what he wrote in pen, only to replace it with more writing. Demyx was also quiet as he looked over the other's shoulder, sometimes murmuring in his ear. His face was completely serious, the childish demeanor replaced by a pensive air. I couldn't imagine what was written in that journal that would promote such a change, but before I could ask, the bell rang, and a taller woman walked into the room, causing silence as she stood in front of the class.

She was one of the younger teachers, you could tell. Long black hair flowed down her back that matched her dark brown eyes, and she just had that younger feel around her, probably just graduated college.

"Hello, class," She called out as she strode across the room, placing the folders in her hands on the desk before moving in front of the room once more. "I noticed some new faces from people that probably just transferred here, so I thought it would be better for me to reintroduce myself. My name is Miss Heartilly, and I will be your teacher for the semester."

The period progressed easily after that, with Miss Heartilly explaining the works of the classroom and having us take some notes. It passed quick, thankfully, unlike some other classes I used to have.

As I walked out of the class with Zexion and Demyx, a flash of black caught at the corner of my eye and I whirled around, trying to catch what it was. Nothing. The entire hallway was devoid of anything, including students.

"Roxanne? Are you alright?" Zexion was looking over at me in concern, and Demyx followed suit. I took one last glance before shaking my head and walking with them once more.

"I thought I saw something. It's nothing though, don't worry about it." Zexion and Demyx exchanged a glance that I couldn't decipher- probably questioning my sanity, as I would be- before continuing on, seemingly towards the auditorium. Demyx had told me about it in one of his rants, about how this Theatre department didn't just read scripts and do skits, boring stuff like that, but actually performed, doing fun games, making jokes constantly, fun things like that. Choreography, singing, the works.

Then again, Demyx had also told me that Cid wasn't exactly the best teacher for this class. He didn't understand how the games worked, how to teach them, or what they were about at all. That only made me more curious about how it worked.

We made our way in, and, to my surprise, Cid wasn't there. However, a different man was. Slightly spiky red hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, which contrasted with his cobalt blue eyes. Two symmetrical tattoos were placed under his eyes, kind of a light red slash from his temple to underneath his eyes.

"Hey, yo! Welcome to the class!"

From his first words, I already knew; this guy was a fucking lunatic. He had been standing on the stage, but jumped off as soon as the bell rang, grinning brightly as he walked over to the front of the rows of seats.

I wrinkled my nose subconsciously. He was funky. Then I shrugged. God, talk about judgemental. I don't even know him.

"First three rows, if you will!" The smile turned into a partial frown, or as much as someone as goofy looking as him could achieve as the kids spread sparsely through the allotted rows. "Damn, this class is smaller than I thought. At least I won't have to deal with as many kids in here. Maybe if I'm lucky Ax won't get into this class either."

Demyx glanced over at the new teacher, not recognizing the name. "Who's he?"

The teacher looked at Demyx, that same look on his face. "Ah, no one, just my kid brother. He looks a lot like me, and he's almost as psycho." Raising his voice, he addressed the entire group this time. "My name's Reno Sinclair. Actually, just call me Reno. Sinclair takes too long to pronounce. Since Cid wasn't all too adept at what he did in this class, you guys are stuck with me. But don't worry, we'll have plenty of fun!"

He winked, effectively causing half of the girls in the room to swoon, and half of the guys to gag needlessly. One boy, a blonde who was a Senior in the Geometry class with us, raised his hand sullenly, not even bothering to take off his beanie before asking, "Did you mean for that to sound pedofilish, or was it just me?"

The boy had to duck suddenly as a puppet came flying towards his face, but didn't hit as it zoomed over his head, landing perfectly in the seat behind him. "Almasy, one more outburst like that and I'll make sure not to miss the next time!"

This would have seemed completely threatening if it wasn't for the fact that Reno's facial expression did not change at all, staying completely joyful, as if he hadn't just tried to murder someone with a puppet- if that's possible. As it was, Reno looked positively thrilled to have someone in the class who didn't care for him much on the first day.

The boy shot up from where he had dodged the flying puppet, outraged. "First day, and you're already trying to kill me! Where's your sense of decency?" He shouted at Reno. The redhead glanced over at him nonchalantly.

"The same place where your manners are, Seifer. I would have thought that to be obvious. Now, if you don't remove your hat, I have a lead pipe in my hand right now, and guess where it will be if you don't listen."

Off went the hat as Seifer practically tore it off, stuffing it into his bag as the class laughed, Reno included. I took the time to notice that, in fact, he really did have a lead pipe. Were those even allowed at school?

"See? Not even five minutes into class and we already know a lesson." Reno was, once again, creepily delighted, but at the same time, there was a barely concealed threat that totally counteracted the gleefulness in his voice. "Anyone know what that is?"

This time it was Demyx who raised his hand, bouncing up and down maniacally. "Ooh, ooh, pick me! Pick me!"

Reno regarded Demyx as one would a rabid squirrel before pointing to him. "Yes, my psycho hippo boy?"

"If you value your vital parts, don't piss you off!" This was rewarded with more snickers, and Demyx looked quite satisfied as Reno nodded proudly.

"You know, I think we're going to get along quite well, class. Now who's up for a game of 30 Second Death?"

* * *

Review? Let me know what you think!


	3. Twisted Assumptions

Chapter three is up! And this time, it's actually looked through for errors. Fabulous!

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Your feedback keeps me going. =3

Disclaim'd, and here it is!

* * *

I settled down for another strange class period as Reno explained the rules for the Thirty Second Death game. "This game is a simple one, which is why I picked it for our first day. Basically, you have to come up with a creative way to die and act it out on the stage in thirty seconds or less, hence the name Thirty Second Death. Completely improv, no props at all. Also, if you want, you may have a partner accompany you for your death. Raise your hand if you wish to die first."

In a chair a little bit away from me, a boy's hand raised into the air, and I vaguely remembered him from this morning, when I was trying to find the office. Reno must have known him as well because he groaned before grinning. "Xiggy! My man! Want to show them how to die the best way possible?"

'Xiggy' mirrored Reno's grin with his own before standing up. "Of course. I am the TA for this class, after all. They need someone to demonstrate the proper way to play." I blinked in surprise as I heard his voice. It sounded, well, surferish. "Oh, for those who don't know me, it's Xigbar."

Huh, weird name. Then again, I'm one to talk. Xigbar looked almost like an older man, with long black hair with gray streaks through it pulled back in a ponytail, and almost eagle-like golden eyes. With the voice, he could totally pull off being a surfer. I also noticed a long scar on the right side of his face, which I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how he'd react.

Jumping onto the stage, he knelt on the darker wood, right in the middle of the stage, holding out his arms almost as if holding a pudgy dog, and cleared his voice before beginning.

"I'm sorry, Rufus… If I knew these were my last words I would say to you, I wish I had something better to say." He flipped over, then miming the person-slash-dog that he was holding, and changed his voice into a falsetto. "Yeah, I wish you did too."

A gasp escaped his throat and he fell onto the ground, dead. Laughter echoed through the room, and I joined in. I didn't exactly get it, but I thought it was hilarious from the way he said it.

Maybe I do need mental help.

Reno must have gotten it as well because he beamed at the male student as Xigbar returned to his seat before speaking up again. "Anyone else want to die?"

Automatically hands shot up into the air again, including my own, surprisingly. Reno paused as he noticed Seifer's hand in the air as well, hesitated, then shook his head slowly. "Seifer, as much as I would love to see you die, I'm going to pick the lovely lady in the second row." A brunette girl in the front row pointed to herself in confirmation and Reno nodded. "Yes, you. Up onto the stage you go!"

The girl stood up happily and giggled before running onto the stage with another girl, this one with bouncy dark blonde hair. They both conferred for a few seconds, a few giggles breaking through to us, before they settled onto different sides of the stages. The brunette one was on stage right, kinda looking like she wasn't about to go anywhere, and the blondish one was on stage left, standing tall and serious, not looking at all like the girl that at first went on the stage.

The blonde glanced at the other girl for a few seconds, then mimed picking up something I could easily tell was a gun. Slowly and deliberately, she drew up her hand and placed the other one around it, deftly making the perfect impression of a small handgun.

The brunette glanced over at her, and her eyes widened as she screamed, her face the picture of horror as she stood there, frozen in fear.

The blonde's lips curled into a cruel smile as she shot. She must have stomped on the ground because a perfect gunshot sound rang through the auditorium, causing the entire audience to flinch as the brunette crumpled to the ground, dead.

The blonde gave one last, almost loving glance before dropping the faux gun, making another dull thunk as she walked off the stage, not looking back as she left the girl behind.

For several seconds, no one spoke, as if stunned by the performance. I certainly was. Being my first time in a Drama class, I wasn't aware that there were such brilliant actors (and actresses) in this class.

This time, instead of laughs, there was a round of applause as the blonde went back to the brunette, the easygoing smile back in place as she offered her hand to help her up. The other girl took it eagerly, laughing lightly at something the blonde girl said, and was holding hands with her as they bumbled up to the front of the stage, gleeful from the applause.

They both bowed in sync, and the blonde girl chirped, "Selphie Tilmitt and Olette Parsons, at your service! Remember, we accept change, checks, and cards!" The girl I took to be Olette giggled again as they jumped off stage together and headed to the back seat, Selphie jumping onto a blond boy with a delighted squeal as he congratulated her.

Reno gave a laugh as he looked to the rest of us. "Perfect death, ladies! Nicely executed."

We managed to make it through three more people- none of which were me, which I was completely fine with- before Reno stopped us. "Now, we're going to change the game." A consecutive groan rose from the entire class, and he waggled his finger at us in rebuttal. "Now, now, this game may not be as fun, but it's just as entertaining."

The rest of the period was spent playing different games, games like Do You Know Your Neighbor?, a name-learning game, which I now know every single person in this class's name because of it, and Freeze Tag, a game where you create your own scenes and someone freezes you in the middle and replaces you, inserting their own.

Between watching the games and joining in myself, I watched several of the people and analyzed them, including Zexion, Demyx, the black-haired Xigbar, and Reno. Mostly Reno, actually.

During the games, when everything was in full spin and no one paid any attention to him, he pulled something out of his pocket and started talking in a low voice, too quiet for anyone to hear him. His face was tense whenever he spoke into it, but the second things started cooling down in the class games, he would put it back in his pocket, and jump back up, getting us onto track once more.

On the other hand, Zexion and Demyx would casually throw me a glance every once in a while, as if checking if I was still there, as if I would run away or something. I guess it could have just been the fact I was new, but at the same time, everything was just too… simple, painless. Something should have gone wrong by now.

Then again, maybe I was just being pessimistic. This day should be fine, perfect actually. New school, already have friends, no one bothering me, gay-friendly, et cetera. List goes on and on. After a little bit, I finally shrugged it off, concentrating more on enjoying the class than anything else.

I followed Zexion after class ended, dropping by my locker (turns out the schedule had my locker number and combo) to put away the forgotten textbooks that I had been carrying around since I got them. When I finally found it, Zexion and Demyx hesitated before standing a few feet away, conversing normally as if it wasn't obvious they were waiting for me.

"Go ahead guys." They looked up, startled by my voice. "I'll meet you in class. Just save me a spot, okay?" Wait. Wasn't PE our next stop? I need to memorize my schedule better.

Their reactions would have been almost comedic had I known why they looked how they did; Zexion had furrowed his eyebrows slightly, as if hesitant, while Demyx didn't even bother looking even partially normal and looked downright constipated.

"You sure, Roxy?" Demyx was the first to say anything. I nodded, fiddling with the locker and not looking directly at them.

"Yeah. I'll find it just fine, and I can always ask other people for directions. It's not like I'd go to the complete other side of this place. I'm not that directionally challenged."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Demyx give Zexion a pained look and Zexion nodding slowly. What was with them? "Okay, Rox. You know what room to go to, right?" My head suddenly throbbed with pain once before disappearing, and I nodded. Why wasn't this locker opening?

"The gym, after dressing down for P.E., right?" Zexion nodded.

"Yeah. It's a big class, so ask anyone else in our grade and they'll know what you're talking about and lead you there, okay?" With that, Zexion grabbed Demyx's sleeve softly before heading down the crowded hallway, vanishing in what seemed like seconds.

Turning my full concentration back to the irritatingly green locker, I turned it around more to each of the numbers. 21, 31, 3. Each time I tried, it would give a dull thunk as I tried to shove the opener thing up and refuse to open.

This same thing repeated three times. Don't get me wrong, I thought I knew how to open them. It was just a sequence of numbers, anyways. Maybe it was the fact that we didn't have any at our old school. They must be conspiring against me, and that's why I can't get it open. Those things are pure evil reborn into an annoyingly rectangular… thing.

I groaned, hitting my head on the locker repeatedly, closing my eyes. _Thump, thump, thump-_

"I'm pretty certain that's bad for your head, sweetling. Can't get the big, bad locker open?"

"Bite me, you prick." I snapped back, not even opening my eyes when I rested my head against the puke green locker.

The voice had sounded vaguely familiar, in a smooth, arrogant way, and I was tempted to glance up to see who it was, when the owner of the voice started laughing. Pure horror rushed through me as I stared up, realizing who it was by that perfect laugh.

Shiny silver hair fell down to about his shoulders, groomed to perfection. He flicked away some of the bangs in front of his aquamarine eyes, only to have them fall back into place once more. Lips twisted into a smirk as he glanced at the locker, and then me. Only one person I knew looked that stunning.

Riku.

A slight blush rose over my face, and I turned back to my locker, a vain attempt to hide it. "Seriously, though, do you need help?" His voice drawled over my shoulder. I shook my head once more as I attempted it again, twisting the knob to each of the numbers.

Pushing up the opener again, he laughed again as it stayed stuck where it was, and moved behind me, taking my hand loosely. "You're doing it wrong," He murmured into my ear softly. I shivered as his breath tickled my ear, causing my face to pinken a bit more.

He guided my hand to the knob once more, twisting it around completely three times. "What're your numbers?" He asked, staying exactly where he was before. It took me a few seconds to finally remember it from where we were at.

"Twenty-one, thirty-one, three."

He nodded before twisting the lock to the twenty-one, then backwards, passing over both of them, then rotating to thirty-one, then reversing the direction and going to the three. Holding onto the place where you lift it up to open it, he-slash-us pushed up.

The locker clinked before swinging open, revealing the empty shelf behind it. Riku's hand fell from mine, leaving a small burning sensation in its place, but he otherwise stayed still behind me. I gaped every so slightly before twisting my head back to Riku, that sexy smirk on his face as he took in my reaction.

"Thanks." I managed, glancing at the locker, then back to him. He nodded, talking a step back so he wasn't directly pressed against me.

"No problem. I couldn't stop myself from helping a pretty girl in need, especially when it was such a scary thing such as a locker attacking her."

I scowled at him before shoving the books I already used into the locker. "You know what? It isn't my fault that these lockers are conspiring against me. They just want me to fail and look like a complete idiot as I try to open them. These things are evil."

He laughed and shook his head before placing out his hand. "Does the pretty lady have a name?"

I nearly grabbed it in a tight handshake, like I normally do, but then realized that I was trying to be a girl, and instead took it gently, like a normal female would. _Take that, Zexion!_ I thought smugly as I opened my mouth to speak. "Roxanne."

Another smile graced his lips as he dipped down to my hand and kissed it, just like Zexion did previously that day. He stayed like that for several seconds, his eyes looking up from below his long lashes. "My name is Riku." He pronounced each word perfectly, almost making it like he was reading a poem, causing me to (almost) swoon once more. "Would you like me to walk you to your next class?"

* * *

Turns out, Riku had the same class as I did this period, so when I told him what class I was going to, he said he was going to walk me there, just to make sure I didn't get lost. We talked the entire way there, just about random things like where I came from, the whole spiel.

The entire way there, Inner Roxy (who was a girl? No wonder I'm so good at this chick thing) was doing cartwheels and happy dances and "He held my hand!" seizures, jumping and everything. Add that to the fact that I now had P.E. with him… Pure bliss.

Wait. P.E. I'm supposed to be a _girl. I'm going to have to change in the girl's locker room._

Fortunately, I only realized this after Riku had left into his locker room. I had almost started following him in, but then caught myself, blushed, and walked over to the door to the girl's room.

I stood there for a good minute or two, staring at the door. I was going to have to change. With girls. They could see me. What good would this entire thing be if I got caught the first day I was in here?

"Hey!" I nearly jumped out of my skin as a voice sounded behind me. I turned around slowly, my face pale from the sudden fright.

The girl from Theatre stared at me curiously, her jade eyes almost gleaming from being so close. I remembered her as being the one who performed so well during the 30 Second Death game. "You're new, aren't you? I don't remember seeing you around here before, well, other than Theatre, and I know everyone here."

I swallowed nervously and nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm Roxanne. Just transferred today. You're Olette, right?" Oh god. Do girls stick out their hands to greet people?

The girl nodded, beaming. "That's me! You remember?"

I nodded, thrilled that I actually got the name right. Score one for me! "Yeah. I don't think I could forget after your awesome performance. That was really good, you know." Her smile grew broader as she giggled quietly, blushing in embarrassment.

"Thanks! I wasn't certain how we did, and I didn't do much of the work, but it was fun!" I shook my head and laughed.

"You were great! I definitely don't think I could have pulled that off, especially if I was as perky as you," I reassured her. She blushed even more and looked down at her shoes, murmuring another thank you. I was at a blank for what to do after that. What do girls talk about?

"Want to go in?" I asked, gesturing towards the door. "I don't have to dress down, since I'm not going to do anything, but if you're going to do it, you might want to get ready before the bell rings."

She looked surprised. "Why aren't you doing the stuff?"

"My leg is sore." I blanched mentally. What was a girly thing to do and get injured doing? "From playing soccer with my brother, I mean. He loves playing it, and I'm pretty good at it too. He kicks hard though."

Another surprised blink, then a grin that accompanied it. "A brother huh? What's he like? No, wait, tell me later. I'm gonna dress down so I don't get in trouble. Meet you in the gym in a bit!" She walked around me and opened the door, about to walk in, then swiveled her head to look at me again. "By the way, if you're really good, you should join us on the soccer team. Just a thought."

With that, she disappeared back into the locker room, and the late bell rang, leaving me to walk upstairs to the gym by myself.

Or, it should have been, until I spotted Zexion walking out of the boy's locker room, bouncy blond in tow. Once he spotted me, a single eyebrow raised in invitation, which soon was exchanged for a small twitch of his lip as I quickly trotted over there. I finally realized that while Demyx was dressed down for class, Zexion was still dressed in the same clothes he was in when I saw him this morning; simple black shirt, and blue jeans that hung loose on his hips, accompanied by a single black studded belt.

"Decided not to dress down?" Zexion asked. He was clearly amused by my pissed off look because both he and Demyx laughed as I hissed in response.

"They're all_ girls_! Why didn't you think of this when you signed me up for P.E.? I can't change in the same room as them!" My face flushed as Zexion chuckled once more.

"Actually, P.E. definitely wasn't in the plan, but now that I know you have it, I can get you out of it." At my inquiring glance, he added, "My mother is the P.E. Teacher."

A teasing smirk appeared on Demyx's face as he piped up, "And she has the hugest-"

"Demyx."

The blond coyly fluttered his long eyelashes, which I now noticed had the smallest trace of eyeliner and mascara. "Yes Zexy?"

The slate haired boy sighed. "Shut up."

* * *

The second I walked into the gymnasium with the other two boys I knew exactly what Demyx was talking about, and why Zexion had told him to shut up. Tifa Lockhart, to put it lightly, was very endowed in the upper region, and was wearing a tight leather shirt, along with something that looked like a short skirt in the front, but was longer in the back, falling to about her ankles. I can only imagine how hard that would be to ignore.

I already saw boys talking to each other, stealing glances at the brunette teacher. They fell silent when she glared at them, however. How such warm, chocolate eyes can be that threatening, I don't really know, but it must have worked for a bit because none of them talked up until she looked away, when they started once more.

"Mother," Zexion called, walking over to her, "We have a new student."

Mrs. Lockhart turned towards us questioningly, and her gaze automatically turned on me when we stopped about two feet in front of her. "Oh? Is that so?" She leaned down slightly so she could look me straight in the eyes, and tilted her head to the side. "And what's your name?"

I blushed slightly and fidgeted under her gaze. "M' name's Roxanne," I muttered, just loud enough for her to hear me.

She smiled, seemingly pleased with the response, but it faded when she took in my clothing. "You aren't dressed down. Did you not have clothes to change into?" She asked, scrutinizing my skirt and shirt. "If that's the case, we have extras in my office, if you need them."

Before I could respond, Zexion shook his head. "Roxanne can't do P.E., Mom. She has some issues with her leg, and if she runs or does anything too strenuous, it gets injured. The ligaments are damaged."

Mrs. Lockhart "Oh"ed in understanding, and just like that the smile was back. "Are you okay with sitting on the bench with Zexion during all the semester? If not, I could always find you another classroom for you to stay in."

I shook my head. "That won't be necessary, but thank you for the offer, ma'am!" I flashed her a winning smile as Zexion dragged me over to the benches and sat down, placing me on his right side as I let out a sigh of relief. "That wasn't the funnest thing in the world…"

"Most fun," Zexion corrected automatically. I scowled in his general direction.

"Shut up."

The smirk I now knew to be very familiar was back on his face. "How was your walk down? Did you find anyone to help you find your way?"

Glancing around the gym, I took a few seconds to wave at Riku, who was now running suicides in the gym. He gave me a grin and waved in response as he continued on. I turned back to Zexion, and with a smug simper replied, "Yeah, actually. Riku was kind enough to lead me down here."

The smugness grew as Zexion gave me a startled look. "Really?" As soon as it appeared, the surprise disappeared, replaced with apprehension and a hint of curiosity. "I wonder what he was doing in that hallway. He doesn't normally go through there."

Well, don't I feel special. A small blush spread over my face as I looked down. "I couldn't get my locker open, so he came over and helped me."

Zexion chuckled, amused. "That explains it. Helping the defenseless princess is one of his favorite things to do. So, how did it go?"

The next ten minutes were spent telling him in exact detail how everything went. Yes, ten minutes. God, the more time I spend here, the girlier I sound.

"… You do know how exactly that sounded, correct?" Zexion asked when I finished.

I scowled. "Exactly like a teenage, lovestruck girl. Trust me, I know." My eyes trailed back over to the middle of the gym, where everyone else was playing basketball. I had looked just in time to see Riku snatch the ball away and throw it into the hoop, making a perfect swoosh. He glanced over, saw me watching, and winked before running after the ball.

Demyx stole it and attempted to pass it to Riku, but instead of throwing it to his hands, he threw it directly at Riku's head. Riku snatched it out of the air right before it hit, smirking at the now irritated blond before continuing with the game.

Zexion let out a low laugh. "Well, Plan Seduce Riku went over well already. I bet he's got a week before he's smitten."

I looked at him incredulously. "You think so?" He nodded, and murmured something under his breath. I tilted my head in confusion, my straightened hair falling slightly into my face while doing so, reminding me once again how I was dressed. How I was able to fool people with my falsetto, I had no clue. "What'd you say?"

"I was just commenting on how quick it was, that's all." I nodded at the confident look on his face, and settled down for the rest of the period.

We spent the rest of the time in silence, just watching everyone else run around. Occasionally Mrs. Lockhart would walk by and talk to us, but that was it. I was grateful when the class finally ended and everyone was sent back to get dressed out again. Riku waved me over when he was helping put away the balls, and I ran over.

"Nice playing out there," I commented, keeping my voice light. He nodded and grinned in response.

"Why weren't you out there? It would have been fun to kick your butt." I glared at him.

"For your information, I happen to be good at basketball. I just have a problem with my leg, so I can't really play." Surprise flickered across his face as he nodded, closing the door to the storage room and locking it.

"Understandable. What happened to it?" He asked, walking with me to the door.

"Soccer accident." I responded automatically. "My brother had a mean kick, especially when he was seven."

A wince. "Point taken."

By then we reached the door into the boy's locker room, but before heading in Riku turned to face me. "By the way, I'm sorry." As I tilted my head in confusion, he added, "I was going to offer to show you around the school since you're new, but my girlfriend… well, she's kinda possessive. I normally would dump them if they were, but…"

"Don't worry!" I chirped, my voice falsely cheery. There goes the simpleness of the situation. "I understand! Go to your girlfriend. I have Zexion and Demyx to show me around. In the meantime…" My face fell, and I looked to the ground, fidgeting with my skirt nervously.

"Maybe we have some classes together." I looked up, surprised, then grinned and nodded.

"Yeah! Oh, but…" I blushed, noticing where we were. "You should probably get dressed huh? Don't want to keep her waiting!"

He laughed, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he turned, waved to me, and went in. A few seconds later, Zexion and Demyx emerged, both with a look of slight disappointment on their face.

We were all silent for a few seconds as we walked up to lunch. Then, "Well, there goes that plan."

I delivered a glare to the slate-haired boy. "You didn't tell me he was dating. One would think this was important in this delicate procedure."

"Hey Blondie, don't get your panties in a bunch! This way, he can show the school he prefers you over her when he breaks up with her and goes out with you! Instant popularity!" Demyx grinned broadly, moving us to a central corner as to not disturb traffic.

I mulled over this for a few seconds, then nodded slowly, a small smile growing on my face. Sure, popularity didn't matter, but in the end, it would work.

"I never thought I would be saying this, but Demyx… You're a genius."

* * *

Lunch was unique, to say the least. The entire cafeteria was filled with ninth through twelfth graders, all sitting at different tables. I nearly broke out laughing as I saw the mascot painted onto the wall, about eight times the size of a regular human. If it didn't look so stupid, it might have been scary, being that it looked like a cream puff that had been set on fire.

The food was, well… Let's just say it looked anything but edible. Wrinkling my nose in disgust, I took a scoop of what was supposed to be mashed potatoes onto my plate, along with what looked like something a Smurf would throw up. Finally, with a small carton of chocolate milk, I paid for it and jaunted down to where Zexion and Demyx were sitting, sending a quick glance to where Riku was sitting with his arm wrapped around a different blonde. His girlfriend, no doubt.

"Roxanne." I turned to Zexion, listening intently as I stabbed my food again. I had been sitting for about two minutes, doing nothing but that. Stab. Stab. Stab. It jiggled funnily, which entertained me more than the thought of actually eating it. "For one, I would appreciate it if you would stop murdering your mashed potatoes and gravy. It really is better than it looks." Gravy? Explains the color, not the way it eats my fork whenever I impale it. "Also, I forgot to introduce you to some of our other friends."

That was about the time I realized there were other people sitting with us. One of them was the friendly Xigbar from Theatre, who waved at me, but there were two more as well.

A blond with a buzzcut was sitting next to Xigbar, holding in his hands what looked like a deck of cards. He shuffled them intently, pulling out one at random, then placing it back in, over and over. Dark blue eyes were focused on the Theatre T.A., and multiple piercings gleamed from his ears, giving a sort of punk look. Weren't those not allowed at school? To his credit, he didn't have any facial piercings, which probably would have looked kinda stupid on him.

The other boy had long blond hair, a little above his waist, pulled back into a ponytail. Intelligent peridot eyes were set on what looked like an Advanced Science book, focusing so intently that he didn't even notice that Zexion was talking. An elbow to the gut from Xigbar jolted him back to the lunchroom, and he glanced up, irritated. Upon seeing me, he nodded in acknowledgment. I nodded back, and with that, he was working again, scribbling down notes on what I assumed could only be a scientific formula.

Zexion tapped my shoulder, catching my attention again. "You see the blonds next to Xigbar- you remember that is his name, right? The one with the piercings and the cards is Luxord. He is a pretty nice guy. Luxord, this is Roxanne. She will be hanging out with us from now on."

Luxord looked pleased to hear that, and smiled at me. "Nice to meet you, love. Heard quite a bit about you from Zexion and Demyx- well, mostly Demyx, but you get my gist." Oh man, his voice was to die for. Definitely a Brit, judging by the accent.

"The other blond is Vexen." 'Vexen' glanced up from his book upon hearing his name, but, seeing that it was nothing, just continued his note taking. "Vexen may seem like a meanie, but don't let it fool you. He's actually pretty cool." Demyx snickered for some reason at what must have been a joke of his, sending the serious boy a glance. "If you ever need help with science homework, he's the person to go to."

He paused, then as an afterthought chirped, "Just don't diss his science stuff!"

I laughed. "No problem there-"

"Is she here for a reason?" I turned to my side, finding the owner of the voice. Vexen had closed his book and was staring at me with a curious, yet irritated expression.

Zexion managed to look insulted. "Vexen, there is always a reason-"

"And yet you haven't explained it. Care to implore us?" What was he talking about? The blond seemed like he was about to stand up, his eyes blazing with indignation. Luxord set down his cards, while Xigbar watched with apprehensive interest. "What can she do? Why didn't you say anything? Demyx-"

"Vexen." Vexen immediately quieted down. Zexion looked livid. For the first time, he didn't bother covering his emotions- or couldn't. "When I say there is a reason, I mean it. I will talk to you about it later, if you decide to stop this childish act." His voice stayed light and neutral, but the glower on his face was enough.

Vexen growled, clenching his fist, then shook his head. Without another word, he opened his book and continued where he left off, shooting me one more chilly glare.

For a few seconds, all was silent. What the hell was that? A reason? I sent a nervous glance to the rest of the table. What had he been talking about?

Finally, Luxord let out a low chuckle, picking up his cards once more. "Who's up for a game of Blackjack?"

* * *

The rest of lunch was relatively peaceful. We had taken up Luxord's offer of a card game, excluding Zexion- he just snickered softly and declined. After two games, I could see why. I didn't even bother trying to beat Luxord any more; he won every single game with ease. I swear he had to be cheating. Demyx was onto something…

_"Cheater! Cheater!" Demyx finally shouted out, throwing his cards down on the table. Luxord just watched, a tiny smirk on his face, as he took Demyx's already meager pile of chips (potato, of course)._

_ "Demyx, my ickle little bloke, you should know by now that I don't cheat," He drawled in that accent of his. He ignored Demyx's indignant squawk and continued, "Maybe you would have been better off to follow the bird and give up."_

_ By 'bird', he meant me. I had folded long ago, and was munching on my remaining chips by now. I let out an amused snort at the whole game._

_ "I knew I shouldn't have played against you, after that game…"_

_ That pipqued my curiosity. "Game?"_

_ "Strip poker."_

_ "Don't ask."_

After lunch was fifth- a boring class indeed, even though the teacher himself was interesting- or, at least, had potential. When we walked into the room, he only said nine words: "Cloud Strife. Write notes on pages ten to fifty." Then, he sat down and took out his cell phone, texting who knows who and glaring at anyone who dared to talk.

Zexion led me to a seat in the back row before sitting down on my right. Demyx went outside, flashing Mr. Strife a grin that, to my surprise, the teacher returned.

"He's dating my uncle." I glanced over in surprise at Zexion.

"Excuse me?"

"Cloud. He is dating my mother's brother, Leon. He looks scary, but he is actually nice enough, so long as you catch him outside of school. He would like his students to be afraid of him so that they learn more without him needing to intervene." A girl with a cell phone out in the third row gasped dramatically as Cloud delivered an evil glare in her direction. She rapidly picked back up her pencil and continued jotting down notes at a speed I wasn't even certain was possible.

"It works quite well," I agreed, taking a look at the class. There was no one that was slacking off throughout the entire room, everyone scribbling in a busy manner. I grabbed my book and started working on some of my own as Demyx walked back in.

The class went by silently, Demyx and Zexion- well, Demyx- giggling about something every once in a while, and Zexion pouring over his little journal with Demyx again. I would have asked what it was, but if I did, Zexion would put it away, I was sure of it.

I was surprised when the bell finally rang. It seemed as if no time had passed at all, but when I looked at the clock, a full period had actually passed.

Demyx jumped up happily, stretching out before looking at me. "Well, Roxy! Hurry up packing your stuff together, 'cause this class is awesome!" He danced out the door, then slid back in when he realized no one was following him yet. "Zexy! Roxy! Hurry up!" He whined, causing Zexion to sigh and me to laugh. I started walking out to the door, but stopped as a sudden wave of nausea hit me. I stumbled, and my hands moved up to clutch at my head.

_-Sparks and flames everywhere. All around me, I could see people panicking, hear them screaming. In front of me, I watched as the building collapsed to the ground, frantic men and women racing out. Subconsciously, I hoped they were okay, but other than that I felt nothing. I was a calm bystander, completely detached through the whole thing._

_ My eyes slid around the area, taking in everything. I was still here, which meant that there was still something I needed to see. Nothing caught my eye. People still fleeing, buildings burning… wait. There. I turned to the right, and saw what I was looking for._

_ It was a young boy, maybe four or five. His eyes were closed, making his porcelain face beautiful, but forgettable, and his brilliant red hair blended in with the dancing flames behind him. Instead of shying away like any normal child would, his hand reached out towards the fire, caressing it as one would a cat or dog._

_ After a few seconds, even though his eyes remained closed, his head rotated slowly towards me. How did he know I was there? Despite my not making a sound, he still somehow sensed that I was there, and opened his mouth to speak-_

"Rox! Roxas!" I shook my head roughly and blinked rapidly, finding myself back in the classroom. My breath was coming through raggedly, and small beads of sweat were on my face. In front of me, Zexion and Demyx were looking at me anxiously, and I realized they were holding me up.

My eyes flickered up to both of them, and their faces melted in relief. "Roxy!" Demyx tackled me lightly, hugging me. "You're okay!"

I glanced around, ignoring the boy who was currently draped over me. "…What the hell just happened?" I croaked, finally getting my voice back. Zexion shook his head, still worried.

"I do not know. We were hoping you could tell us."

My face fell, and I thought back to… whatever it was. What the hell was that anyways? All I could remember was the fire, and the boy. He kept his eyes closed, even when he was about to talk, and…

That's what was weird. He wasn't getting burnt. He was in the middle of the fire- no, he _was_ the middle of the fire. He had to have been, with how the flames reacted to him. It was like they were protecting him, sheltering him.

So why wasn't he dead?

Suddenly, I had to stop myself from laughing. What was with me today? That… the whole idea of it was impossible! I mean, it would be one thing if the kid wasn't in it. Besides, it's not like that kind of thing really happened. It had to be the stress catching up to me. I'll try to get more sleep tonight; if this was how I reacted, then I'd want to do anything to stop that.

"Did anyone see?" I asked Zexion, finally pushing Demyx off of me and grabbing my bag. Zexion looked surprised and shook his head.

"Not even Strife saw." I raised my eyebrow and he shrugged. "You were lucky," He said simply.

I didn't bother asking and laughed quietly, making sure it didn't sound fake. "Good. I don't want the school to think I'm anorexic on the first day." I started to walk towards the door, but a hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned back, and looked straight into Demyx's anxious eyes.

"Are you okay, Roxy? Seriously?" I nodded, forcing a smile on my face.

"Of course! Don't worry, it's happened before." Liar. "I'll be fine, don't worry. Let's go to class."

They looked doubtful, but accepted it and led me out of the room. The hall was practically empty, save for a few stragglers. "How long was I out of it?"

Demyx looked thoughtful, still leading me ahead. "Not that long. Two minutes at most."

I said nothing else, just nodded again as we made it into the English room. The teacher was nice enough, Ms. Gainsborough. She was really sweet, actually. Dressed in a pink dress, she was tall and had pretty brown hair pulled back into a twist and held in place by a bow as pink as her dress. Even though she was quiet, the whole class was silent and respectful as the friendly brunette explained the rules of the class and got us started on a quick essay for the period. It was simple enough, just talking about our summer. It only had to be a page long too, so it didn't take me much time at all.

After about ten minutes, all three of us had finished our essays. I finally got out Cirque Du Freak to read, while Demyx started scribbling on a random piece of paper. Zexion had gone back to his black journal, writing once more, and for a few seconds it was silent.

At least, until the piece of paper hit me in the head.

I sent a glare to Demyx, who merely shrugged and gestured at the paper. I rolled my eyes and put my book down, exchanging it for the paper. I unfolded it, and froze at what it said.

_**So, Zexy knows you're not a girl?**_

I glanced at him before writing a response- in cursive, of course. Cursive always looked girly, and I had to stay in character.

_I don't know what you're talking about._

I tossed it back at his head, and he caught it easily, unfolding the crumpled note and snickering at what it said, jotting down something else, then sending it back.

_**Come on Roxy, stupid doesn't look good on you. It's okay, I know.**_

I bit my lip nervously. This wasn't good.

_…How?_

_**I'm good at this kind of thing. Don't worry, no one else should notice. It's just simple things that most people wouldn't see, like the fact you didn't check out one guy. And, you walk like a guy.**_

I frowned at the second statement. Did I really?

_You're not going to tell anyone, are you?_

When he read that, he actually started laughing- quietly, of course-, then sent a shake of the head in my direction.

_**Of course not! I want to say how this turns out!**_

I groaned at the reminder. Come on, wasn't it bad enough that Zexion was bugging me about it?

_Thanks for the support._

Too bad sarcasm didn't translate too well through parchment. Damn, I forgot how creepy it sounded when Demyx giggled.

_**Of course! So, why are you here as a girl anyways?**_

I wrinkled my nose, and chose not to answer, instead ripping the paper up and throwing it away. Ignoring Demyx's squawk of indignation, I spent the rest of the period reading my book, and peeping over the top to look at Zexion's book, wondering what was inside that thick leather binding.

* * *

When we finally got to 7th period, I think I had an overload of weird characters. The teacher, Yuffie Kisaragi, was, well, a ninja. Or, at least, was convinced she was. I wouldn't be surprised if she was, the way she greeted us when we walked in the room.

She had jumped from desk to desk, swinging on the pole that the flag was suspended on, and then landed directly in front of us, a few inches from my face. Her short black hair hung in her chocolate brown eyes, but that didn't do anything to defend me from the curiosity in them.

"Hey! What's your name? I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi, but you can just call me Yuffie!" She laughed at our faces, then ushered us inside. "Sit down wherever! I don't believe in assigned seats. Class is about to start!"

I wasn't about to argue, so I sat down in the closest chair I could find. Zexion and Demyx followed soon after, Zexion chuckling at my evident fright.

"She isn't too scary once you get used to her. If anything, she's one of the easier ones to deal with." I raised my eyebrow at him, and he shrugged before settling in.

Finally, the bell rang, and Yuffie sprung into action. "Okay, you know who I am, I think I can catch up on your names, so let's get started! First off, we'll be learning…"

Her brow creased in confusion, and she bounced back to her desk to pick up a piece of paper. Squinting her eyes, she slowly read what I was guessing to be the syllabus. "Sense And Sensibility? Screw that! It's the first day, we can't waste such an opportunity!" She threw the paper across the room and grinned. "Ooh, look, they gave us a TV and a DVD player. Who wants to watch Bedtime Stories?"

That was how we spent the entire class; watching a movie. By the time the class ended, we had all been laughing and not working- or even thought about it. The only one not going along with anything was Vexen, who was sitting in the back of the room, working on his science. Even workaholic Zexion was enjoying himself, past the guys and girls playing Truth or Dare. As it was, half the men in the room walked out with full makeup on their faces. I was glad I declined when they asked me- even if I had to play the part of a girl, I wasn't to partial to the idea of wearing enough makeup to make me look like a doll- or a cheap hooker. Luxord, of course, was trying his best to convince Yuffie to let the students play strip poker, along with Xigbar, but she wouldn't allow any talk of it. When the bell rang, none of us wanted to leave, but Yuffie pushed us out, yelling about how we have her all semester. So, reluctantly, we all filed out.

As we walked to my locker, I happily stretched out my back, popping it twice. "This school is awesome," I commented, glancing at the boys. "Why are your teachers so nice?"

Zexion smiled thinly. "No one wants to give the classes a hard time. Don't worry, they still learn a bit."

I sighed. "Oh well. It was nice to hope."

When we made it, I dropped off all my books in the locker, since I didn't have any homework, and closed it. Sadly, I ended up not having any more classes with Riku, but these teachers….

I grinned. I could live with this. This would be a cakewalk, especially compared to my last school, where we went home with at least three pages of homework. Maybe now I would see that elusive thing called free time!

"So, Roxanne." I shook out of my thoughts and faced Zexion, listening. "What do you think?"

"I'm staying," I replied automatically. God, like _hell_ I was leaving.

He chuckled quietly. "I figured as much. You seemed to enjoy yourself-"

Demyx squealed and hugged me happily, backing off before I could hit him to get him off. "Yay! Roxy's staying!" I couldn't help it; as soon as he started that stupid happy dance of his, I started laughing. Even Zexion laughed in his own way at the idiotic dance.

And then, just as soon as it started, it stopped. "So Roxy, want us to walk you home?" Demyx asked, walking up to me. I shook my head.

"Nah, I should be fine. It's not even a mile away. Besides, I could use a walk." I snickered inwardly at the thought of that. Still have to get used to the thought that this would be my new school. Ooh, that sounds good. _My_ school.

"Okay! Well, me and Zexy gotta go, 'cause we ride the bus, so kisses!" Demyx air kissed me on both cheeks before snatching Zexion and, with a devious glow in his eyes, dragged the blunette away. From the red dust on his cheeks, I could tell Zexion was far from upset about it.

"Roxanne! Call if you have any questions, okay? We will see you tomorrow!" Zexion managed to say that loud enough for me to hear before they both disappeared into the throng of frantic students.

Figures. At least I didn't live too far away.

Checking my bag one last time, I sighed and resigned myself to a long walk home.

* * *

Oh man, I _loved _writing Luxord! Even though he's only in here a little bit, he was my favorite person to write. I know he doesn't have any of that British slang, but I'm allowed to have fun with this, right?

Bird: A girl in general  
Ickle: Small (Which explains Demyx's reaction)  
Bloke: A man in general

Press the button! Let me know what you think!


	4. Revealed

Revised once again! 12/2/10. I swear, revising these things are more fun than actually writing them. So fun to see the problems it all had. ^-^

* * *

The walk home was uneventful and boring. Simple and quick, I found myself bored as I easily found my way from the school. When I finally reached my house, no one bugged me about my day, I ate an early dinner, and went to bed straight afterwards, exhausted but content with how the day had gone.

I had you going for a minute there, didn't I?

My trip back to my house- and the rest of my day, for that matter- was anything _but_ what I just described. Despite not only having a map, but having made my way to school without a single problem, I got lost twice before finally figuring out the correct way back. And, I swear to God that there was something behind me, like a stray dog or cat, bumping into the trashcans and such.

_Thump._

There it was again. I jumped slightly, then laughed nervously at how stupid I was acting. I'm making this sound like a bad horror movie! _Seriously_, I took a deep breath to calm myself and paused. If a dog pops out in front of me, I'm going to scream.

I reconsidered. And laugh. Scream first.

Behind me, a trashcan was knocked over, the loud resulting sound echoing through the alleyway. I flinched and forced down the yelp that was trying to force itself out of my mouth as I turned around abruptly, trying again to look for whatever was ramming into things. Still, the only living thing in the alleyway was myself, as far as I could tell. Well. That and some plants. I'm not racist against plants or anything, I just kind of tend to forget that they're considered alive too. And for good reason. Don't give me that look.

What was one supposed to do in the event that there's freaky noises being made and the source is nowhere to be found anyways? I once saw a horror movie with a premise like that- what did they do? Didn't they turn around and ask who was there? Except, the main character died in the end. And the movie was stupid anyways.

Instead of listening to that, I looked back over my shoulder cautiously, still stepping forward-

And my foot caught on something, twisting almost painfully.

I spiraled to the ground, hitting hard on my elbow. I hissed, and before I could roll any further I pushed up on my hand and jumped up to my feet, messenger bag swinging around. Before I could even realize what had happened, my elbow started stinging madly and I examined the skin, wincing sharply as I accidentally touched it. The skin was torn to pieces, and was already bleeding copious amounts of blood. Glitters of broken glass shimmered on my elbow, some falling off with the blood drops, but most staying in place. From how it looked, I was surprised that I wasn't in tears by now.

What did I trip on…?

I glanced back. Other than the usual rocks, random plants, and shattered glass bottles, there was nothing that could have caused me to fall, which meant I stumbled over my own feet or a stray that had already left the alley. Just my luck.

I checked over the rest of my body for injuries. Luckily, my elbow was the only thing that got damaged. The rest of me, even my clothes, were unscathed.

Another _clank_ resonated through the area, and I took off running. _Screw_ caution,_ screw _dignity, I've already turned into a girl, so _screw_ everything else! I just wanted to get home, bandage my arm, get some food, and go to sleep. Nothing else.

So of course, when I ran, I didn't see one plant, right next to where I tripped and about up to my knee raising its tendrils into the air, almost as if in victory. I also didn't see the shadow-like creature rise out of the shade of one of the trashcans and go over to the blood on the ground, sniffing it and sending the area I disappeared into a curious glance with its glowing yellow eyes. Then the plant lashed out at it, slicing it in two and causing it to disperse into little threads of darkness. The plant straightened up taller, as if proud, then drooped back down, as motionless as before.

* * *

By the time I saw my house, its familiar dark crème color and chocolate brown trim, I was out of breath and probably red in the face. I don't remember the last time I ran that fast- the trip to the school had taken me twenty minutes this morning, and that was even a more direct path than what I took now. Definitely wasn't used to it.

I eventually slowed to a walk as I made it to my door, standing outside while I caught my breath. After about three more minutes, I finally opened the door, walking through and closing it quietly behind me. Please don't let him be here, please don't let him-

"Roxy! You're home!"

Oh shit.

I didn't have any time to think anything but that as a whirlwind of blue and brown came flying at me though the hallway. Ducking, my lip twitched smugly as a satisfying thud echoed against the door behind me.

For a few seconds, there was silence as I got back up, nonchalantly checking my bag and taking off my shoes at the door.

"Aw, Roxy! That actually hurt!" Sora whined childishly, shuffling around a bit. I didn't even have to turn around to know that he was pouting. "Why do you have to be so mean to me?"

"Sora, you just assaulted me- or attempted to. I don't think it's my fault that you ran into the door when I was trying to protect myself." I rolled my eyes, then let out a grunt as Sora latched himself to my back, laughing gleefully. "Get off of me, you giant lump!" I laughed softly despite my irritated tone, then hissed in pain, as he bumped my injured elbow. I'd almost managed to forget about that.

I couldn't see Sora's face, but the small gasp that escaped him and the way he slid off gently showed that he finally noticed the injury. "Mom! Roxas is hurt!" He ran off into the dining room, which was directly in front of the hall. A few seconds later, he came rushing back, grabbing my uninjured arm and dragging me with him. His tone was surprisingly stern for once, and his lips were pressed into a firm line.

Mom came into the room only a few seconds after we did, her normally smiling face now wrinkled with a frown. "Roxas? What happened?"

I sighed, sending a glare at my brother. "Thanks Sora…" I muttered. Then I raised my voice, directing it back to Mom. "I fell on my way home. I would have handled it myself, but someone had to butt in."

Sora raised his hand, as if it wasn't obvious. "That was me!"

My mom let out a light laugh, though it was a distracted one. "Of course, Sora. Roxas, may I see your arm?" I nodded, lifting my elbow up in front of me. Mom let out an exclamation that I couldn't really make out the words of as her brows furrowed at it. It must have been worse than I previously thought. Setting down the first aid kit I finally noticed in her hands, she motioned for me to get closer to the table. I obliged, and she gingerly took a hold of my elbow, examining it closely.

"…You certainly did a number on it," She finally said, letting go once more. Leading me over the sink, she turned on the water to lukewarm, then silently directed me to put my arm under the stream. I hesitated, then nodded, hissing as the water made connection with the torn skin. It stung madly, and I had to force myself not to cringe in pain. That was _not _a pleasant feeling.

After a while- I had no clue how long as I was too busy trying to ignore the pain- Mom deemed that my elbow had had enough torture and turned off the water, taking my elbow and bringing it over to a towel that she must have taken out of the cabinet. "Sit down, Roxas. I'm going to use tweezers to get out all of the glass, okay?" I nodded and collapsed into the chair, holding my injured arm just above the towel while using my other one to prop the rest of my body up, closing my eyes. I was exhausted from everything, and even with the twinge in my elbow, it took effort to keep my eyes open.

Then the pain got worse and I yelped, forcing my arm out of my mom's gentle grasp. "What the hell, Mom! That hurts!" I complained, wanting to rub the skin but knowing that it would only make it hurt worse. Mom rolled her eyes in unison with Sora. Mom, however, managed to stay quiet.

"Has anyone told you you're a wimp, Roxy? 'Cause you are. Seriously." I glared at him and reached out, promptly pinching his stomach. Hard.

"Ow! Roxy, you're a bitch, you know that?"

"Sora! Language!"

"Mommy! Did you not just see what he did to me? He just lashed out viciously and pinched me! He could have ruptured my spleen or kidney or something!"

"Honey, your spleen is closer to your heart." Mom pointed out. He didn't seem deterred.

"So? My kidney! It could be crying out in pain, bleeding all over the place… Racking up medical bills…" He paused. "Waving hello to random birds, making them fly into windows all over the world… Do you know how many bills that could cause?"

I sighed in exasperation. "Okay, now you're just getting to sound stupid. Sora, calm down and shut up, or else I'll bleed on you."

It worked. Sora pouted but remained silent, looking warily at my arm, confirming that while I threatened it, blood would not be getting on him anytime soon.

For about ten minutes we were all quiet, save for the random hisses of pain when Mom pulled out a really stubborn piece of glass wedged in my arm, and the thumps that Sora always made, tapping his fingers or his foot, like it was impossible for him to stay still.

That's how Sora worked, though; he was always in motion. Seriously. I wasn't kidding when I said Sora hurt my leg when I was younger. He runs like no one's business, just flings himself into whatever situation he wants to, no matter the consequences.

"It feel okay?" I focused back on Mom, realizing she was talking about my arm. I nodded, taking in the white bandages around the ligament.

Her face softened, light brown eyes flickering over my arm once more. "You should be able to bandage it on your own tomorrow, but if you want I can do it for you. It might be painful…"

I shook my head. "No Mom, I can do it myself. Thanks though." I stood up, careful not to bump my arm. It had stopped hurting for the most part now that it was bandaged up, but I didn't want to make it hurt again. Switching the shoulder my messenger bag was on, my face pinked as I remembered that I was still dressed like a girl, makeup and all. "I'm going to head off to the bathroom real quick, okay?"

Mom nodded understandingly. "Of course. Come back down and tell me about your day afterwards?"

"Yeah." With that, I took off upstairs, heading down the hallway to the bathroom, then changed my mind and went into my room first, grabbing a blue t-shirt and khaki shorts, then went into the bathroom. I winced as I looked at my face again, something that I had managed to avoid doing all day. Blue makeup, eyeliner…

I took a facial cloth that Kairi and Naminé had supplied for me and quickly wiped it over my face, taking off all traces of cover-up and eyeshadow. I let out a groan as I saw that the mascara was stuck there, unwilling to get completely off my lashes. So was the eyeliner. I couldn't get it close enough to my eye without feeling like I was going to stab it, so I left it.

I examined my eye one last time, looking at the black liner.

"Getting partial to the girl stuff, huh Roxy?" I jolted away from the mirror, twisting my body in surprise. Sora was leaning against the blue wall of our bathroom, looking surprisingly serious as he regarded my face with a nod. "You know, since you're not even bothering taking it off."

"It's not coming off, Sora," I said irritably, turning back to the mirror. This time I saw him against the wall, his spiky brown hair, slightly bulkier build, and only barely chubby cheeks being the only things that made us look different. Everything else about us was alike; we had the same sapphire eyes, the same pout, we were the same height… We were the pure essence of twins. We had small differences, but were almost like the same person, physically.

His face twisted in sympathy. "Yeah, I know. Kai always used me as her makeup doll, so I know how you feel." Laughing sheepishly, he scratched the back of his head, a nervous habit I had picked up from him. "I'd tell you how to get it off, but I never found a way myself."

I sighed. "I figured as much. Thanks So." Maneuvering around him, I closed the door and began changing back into the clothes I picked out before, not caring that Sora was still in the room. We already shared a room as it was, who cared if he was right there?

He chuckled. "No problem. So, spill." I stopped in pulling the shirt off my head, raising an eyebrow. He stood up straight and laughed again. "Come on, you didn't seriously expect me to believe that you just tripped, and that's what tore up your arm? Even with glass on the ground, you'd have to be thrown at the ground for it to do that much damage."

I continued taking the shirt off, taking the bra with it. I'd forgotten how smart Sora could be. Then again, it wasn't like there was anything else that happened, so maybe paranoid was the right word for it. "Sora, I tripped. Simple as that. Although…" I paused. "There was nothing for me to trip on. The only thing even remotely close to me was a plant. I figured that a stray was the one who tripped me, but I don't know," I finished pulling my clothes on and opened the door.

Sora laughed again. "Well, it's not like a plant could trip you, right?"

I nodded, chuckling a little myself. "Yeah, I mean, how stupid would that be? It's not like they can move-" I stopped. Sora had an almost far-away look to him, as if deeply into his own thoughts. What was with him today? "Sora? Are you okay?"

"Later Rox. I'm fine, I just forgot to tell Kairi something." With that, he walked out of the room, grabbed the phone from the bedroom, and made his way outside our house, onto the roof through our window, closing it behind him.

I stared after him for a few seconds. "What was that about…?" I wondered out loud, eyes lingering on the window. Why was he acting so odd?

Finally, I shrugged and made my way back downstairs, greeting Mom again and gratefully taking the bowl of ramen she offered me. Figures that she knew that I need my comfort food- today had been completely and utterly traumatizing, after all. Sora was the same in that aspect as well; whenever we were nervous or upset, we ate instant ramen to calm down. It was just something we did.

Breathing in, I recognized the flavor to be my favorite, simple chicken. I shot a grateful smile at my mom as I sat down at our table, which was completely clean from any previous mess we had made from cleaning my arm.

It was quiet for a while after that, me slurping as soundlessly as I could, and Mom waiting patiently for me to finish so I could tell her about my day, a tradition we always kept up as much as we could, even though we were teenagers now. Some things never change.

After a few minutes, I was halfway done with my ramen and Sora came down the stairs. His normal cheery face was faded, and when I gave him a questioning look, he just shook his head. When Mom saw him, she frowned and got up, already working on making Sora a bowl of shrimp ramen, his personal favorite. Sora sent her a grateful glance, then placed his head down on the table, as if trying to sleep.

I should ask him what's wrong-

_Schlurp._

I stopped what I was doing as Sora and Mom's heads slowly rotated towards me, noodles still sticking out of my mouth. I looked back at them for a few seconds, then defensively finished what I was doing. _Schlurp._

Sora stared at me for a few more seconds before he burst out laughing, Mom and I joining in a few seconds later, me a bit more sheepishly.

"Epic fail Roxy. Epic. Fail." I reddened at Sora's comment, and to avoid further embarrassment, I shoveled more of the delicious noodles in my mouth, trying my best not to make any more noises. Suddenly I was less sympathetic to his situation. It wasn't like he was upset any more; Mom had just completed his ramen and he had lunged at it happily, managing to eat it with less manners than I had.

"Scho, Rochas." He swallowed and waved his fork mock-threateningly at me. "How did your ellopage go? Did you snog the sexy Riku?"

I rolled my eyes, thinking back to the earlier part of the day. "You do realize that ellopage isn't a word, right?"

Sora took another huge bite. "Who carths? It geths the pointch athcross." I raised an eyebrow at Sora's horrendous speech as he gulped down his next bite. "Okay, I'll stop at that. But seriously, how close did you get to the man-god that is Riku?"

I sighed. "Very close. He helped me open my locker, since no one else was around."

Sora nodded sympathetically. "The locker curse?"

"Yep." See? I told you it was a curse. "It was going great until I found out he has a girlfriend. Some blond girl. Possessive, apparently, and an upperclassman. I didn't find out anything else about her. As for Riku… I only have one class with him." Despite the fact that I was disappointed that it was only one class, I couldn't stop the smirk from crossing my face. For only one class, it was the perfect one.

Mom's eyes widened, but Sora beat her to replying. "P.E.?"

"P.E.." I confirmed. Sora grinned.

"Talk about lucky! Well, if you could only have one. Sheesh, that's insane."

"What about your other classes?" Mom interjected gently.

I thought about it. "I have the same classes as Zexion and his friend Demyx, so they helped me catch up with everything." Mom and Sora both nodded, remembering what I told them about the quiet slate-haired boy. "The teachers are nice enough, the curriculum is simple, I haven't run into any bullies, and no one even has guessed that I'm not a girl." I concluded, drinking the rest of my ramen broth. I figured that I might as well not tell them about Demyx knowing; that would wound my ego a little too much- which really didn't make much sense since I took more pride in my manliness than my acting, but whatever.

Mom smiled. "I'm glad. So, other than you falling on your way home, nothing bad happened?"

I hesitated, then shook my head. "Nope, that's all that happened. Although, that enough for anyone, isn't it?" That was another thing I wasn't going to mention, me fainting in the middle of school, the strange dream-like thing in class- no, they weren't going to hear about that at all. At least, Mom won't.

Mom laughed, a light, happy sound. "Definitely." She stood up, brushing out the wrinkles in her crème colored dress. "I'm going to get going, okay? I need to check on your father, and make sure that he isn't working late again." She left the room, and I got up as well, Sora following not too long after me. When I gave him a curious glance, he just shrugged, following me up the stairs into the room we shared.

While I sat down on my bed, with the checker covers, Sora sat down on the dark blue one that he chose for his own bed, sitting cross-legged and facing me.

"So," He started, staring me down as I switched into the same position as he was in, relishing the freedom of shorts, "That's not the whole story. What _really_ happened?" What was with the double interrogation? When I didn't respond and gazed blankly back at him he groaned. "Come on Rox, I'm not stupid. Something bad always happens when you switch schools! Besides, you're acting off."

I thought about it for several seconds, then grinned wryly at him. I was considering telling him, but… "Didn't you just ask me that? It's like you think I'm deceiving you about everything that happened when you weren't around. Come on So, just because I switched schools doesn't mean something bad happened. You gotta stop playing so many video games. I swear, they're going to your head. Or, whatever's left of it, in that empty cavern of yours."

He pouted, then laughed a little bit more. "Ouch Rox, you gotta learn to be nice! I'm even being serious too. You know I won't stop bugging you until you tell me what happened. You can keep it from Mommy-" That was another thing about Sora; he tended to call our mother Mommy- "but you can't keep anything from me."

Rolling my eyes, I sighed in defeat. "… How did you know?"

Another laugh. "Silly Roxas, twin's intuition, remember?"

I smiled. That had been a joke we always made, ever since we could talk. We knew what each other needed or wanted, just by looking at our face. Mom told me that when I was younger, I didn't talk, and Sora had to communicate what I said to everyone else, since he was the only one who could understand me.

…Well, if that doesn't sound emo, I don't know what does.

"…I kinda fainted in the middle of school," I admitted, looking down. That didn't stop me from hearing Sora's sharp gasp though.

"Are you kidding? How-?"

"I don't know. It only lasted about a minute, and it was in between classes, so no one saw. I wasn't hurt or anything." I paused. "I think it was from exhaustion. That would make sense, right?"

I looked over to Sora, and despite the situation I almost chuckled at his dumbfounded expression. "But- why didn't you tell Mom?" He blurted out, unable to keep his voice down. "There could be something wrong!"

"Shh!" He immediately quieted when I leveled a glare at him. "There wasn't anything wrong, trust me. I was just tired or something. If it happens again, I promise I'll tell Mom. Okay?"

From my flippant tone, I was almost surprised that he didn't argue. After a few moments of reconsideration, Sora bobbed his head in agreement. "Was there anything else?" This time, he wasn't asking for gossip. His voice was tense from concern, and the normal merriment was gone. I was almost touched, really. "That couldn't have been all of it. I know you Roxy, you wouldn't just ignore that unless there was something to it that you thought other people wouldn't believe."

He was right on that point; I was always a little cautious about things like that. Not that it was that big of a deal, but if it had been, then I would have called home on the spot. "…Kinda," I confessed, glancing away once more.

"Kinda?" Not disbelief, but curiosity.

"Kinda. When I fainted, I had this weird… dream thing. That's why I thought it was from me being tired. I could have just fallen asleep while walking."

Sora was quiet for a bit. "Do you remember it?"

I shook my head. "No. Not really." I gritted my teeth. I hated lying to him. It was one thing to lie to the world, but lying to my brother…

I couldn't do it. "Except, there was fire, lots of it. And a boy." I bit my lip. "He was going to talk to me right before I woke up. It was weird."

I could practically hear the gears in my brother's head working. Honestly, I was surprised that he hadn't accused me of lying to him, or being on drugs. I probably would have by now, even if it was my brother telling me. Then again, Sora believed anything anyone said, never the skeptic. It was one of the reasons most people adored him. I just always had to have proof, or else I wouldn't even consider it existing.

"Do you remember what he looked like?" He finally asked. Out of the corner of my eye I could see his fingers working the comforter underneath him, twisting and grabbing the fabric, then releasing it. He must be more worked up about this than I thought, I mused, letting there be a lull in the conversation before speaking again.

"He was four, maybe five," I saw Sora's hand stop moving the instant he heard me. Still clenched tightly, his hand almost turning white. He was taking this a lot more serious than I was expecting. "Red hair. His eyes were closed though, so I can't really remember his face." I stopped, thinking about him once more, how he manipulated- no, _directed_- the flames.

Eventually Sora sighed. "Well, if he's only that old, that throws my idea out the window."

My head shot up. "Yeah?" I asked noncommittally, trying to hide my eagerness, but failing. Inside I scolded myself. Come on, it was just a hallucination. It's not like he's real or anything. Get a grip.

Sora's voice shocked me out of my thoughts. "That you're in love with him. Or maybe you're just a pedo," He teased, laughing and ducking when I threw the closest thing at him. As it was, that book will never be the same.

"So-ra!" I groaned, tossing a pillow after the book. Luckily, it hit him, though it did little to no damage due to being, you know, a pillow. "You jerk. I knew I shouldn't have told you," I muttered, irritated. Sora actually had the grace to look a little guilty.

"You know I didn't mean it Rox. When do I ever?" He threw a cheesy grin in my direction and I snickered.

"Too true," I agreed, forgiving him as easily as I always did. "Oh, and Sora?" He glanced at me, curiosity gleaming in his eyes. "Don't tell Mom about this."

Sora nodded slowly. "Of course. It would only worry her, and if there's nothing to do about it-"

Suddenly his expression gave way to concern. "Rox? Are you okay?"

I would have snapped in response that I was fine, but the way that I felt like I was going to fall off the bed wouldn't allow me to. My head felt heavy and fuzzy, as if someone had filled it with a thick fog while I was half asleep. "I… I don't know."

That was all I managed to say before I slipped away into blackness.

* * *

_"Marluxia, I thought I told you not to hurt her." The room was dimly lit with candles, but only on the rim of the walls, making it impossible to make out anything more than a silhouette of the person. The one that I thought was speaking was tall, with spiky hair that I couldn't make out the color of drawn back into a sloppy ponytail. His side was to me, so there was no point in even trying see his eyes._

_A deep chuckle came out of one of his companions. Judging by the voice it was a man, with long curly hair going down his back. He was about the same height as the first one, maybe a bit shorter. "We already know that she's not the one; she has a male twin, not female. You out of all of us know how it goes."_

_The first one groaned in frustration. "That still doesn't mean you can hurt her! She's important, I know it. He said so!"_

_That's about the time I realized that I was nothing but a little orb of light watching this time, not an actual person. As it was, if it had been possible, I would have jumped as a cackle went through the room. It came from the last person, a short female that looked incredibly pixie-like. Her hairstyle was a bit eccentric, short with bug-like antenna bangs sticking out behind her. "Ooh, are you going soft for the blondie?" Another laugh, this one less cackly and softer. "Silly Aku, you should be more careful with who you get attached to."_

_"I'm not attached!" The first one threw out a hand, and I could have sworn I saw a spark ignite in the middle of the palm. "Can't you guys feel it? Something's not right with the girl. She's part of this, I know it! How else could she have-" He cut off abruptly, and I mentally bristled in shock as his head turned to face me. _His eyes…_ Even in the bad lighting they were glowing dimly, an emerald green that I swear I had never seen on someone before. They were narrowed dangerously into what would almost be a glare, but not quite. "Larx, what did you do?"_

_The female turned towards me as well, and her hand waved dismissively. Her eyes were darker, but had the same base shade, only less vibrant- almost acidic, really. "Oh, oops, I must have dragged someone here on accident. My bad." She snapped her fingers and-_

I was soaking wet.

My eyes shot open and I burst out of bed. "What the hell, Sora!" Sora's eyes were widened in shock, but I could tell that he was scared too. What had happened? "I mean, I don't know what happened, but seriously! Dousing me with water is a little overboard!"

"I tried shaking you!" He cried out, the bucket dropping from his hands. It made a loud clunk as it hit the floor, but I didn't take any more notice of it other than that. "You didn't even flinch! I pinched you, I jumped on you, I did everything!"His eyes were starting to water up, and I suddenly realized why he was so afraid.

"You couldn't wake me up? At all?" Sora shook his head, his eyes downcast.

"No, I couldn't. Even now, when I just did wake you up, you're looking like you just ran a marathon." I felt my hand drift up to my cheek, and realized that it was burning hot. It wasn't like this in class. "Is this what happened before?"

I sfrowned. "N-" I stopped. If I tell him it was the same, he won't worry about it too much. If it was different, he might make me tell Mom about it, or something.

So, instead of telling him the truth, I shook my head "Maybe. I don't really remember. It's not that important, right?" It wasn't even that much of a lie. I didn't say whether it was or not, just gave a possibility of it.

Before he could respond I yawned, getting off the bed and stripping off all the wet covers. "So, Sora, how're you gonna explain this to Mom?"

Sora laughed sheepishly, getting up and helping me with taking it off. Luckily only the comforter was wet, so the sheets and the mattress would be fine. "Duh, I got bored and decided to dump a bucket of water on you. When has that not worked?"

"Where did you get the bucket anyways?"

A shrug. Snickering, I finished off the job and picked up the wet blanket, walking towards the bathroom and placing it in the hamper. With luck, it would be dry before I went to bed tonight. I started to head out of the bathroom, but then stopped as I thought of the wrapping around my elbow. It was pretty much soaked, which reminded me; I was dripping water all over the house, and if Mom found out, she'd probably have me mop all the floors. Great.

I sighed. The wrapping, along with everything else I needed to do, would have to wait.


	5. Doubt

Revised 6/12/10

* * *

The next morning, it was practically impossible for me to wake up. I groaned softly, rolling over underneath my blankets as I groped randomly for the persistent alarm clock that was ringing in my ear. As I finally got it and pressed the off button, I froze as I heard another moan in the same room, a hand from the next bed over grabbing the clock.

"…Sora?" My question was met with another unintelligible complaint as the hand slipped and a heavy _thump _followed soon after it as Sora plunged off the bed with a grunt. "Sora… your school starts before mine, remember? You only have about half an hour to get ready now." That was another thing I hated about the other school; it started an hour earlier than most schools, and neither Sora or I were morning people. Well, Sora's morning only lasted for about ten minutes after he woke.

"No I don't," He argued, drowsy tone breaking through. "I switched to your school."

Stunned silence followed his statement. "…You did?" He confirmed it with another noncommittal grunt, muttering under his breath as another thump followed, obviously failing to get up. "…Why?"

"You need someone to look out for you, and I need someone to cheat off of. Easy deal." I smothered a laugh as I debated whether I should be insulted, complimented,or just amused. I chose amused.

"So you're starting today? Or when?" I sat up in bed to see Sora finally sitting on the ground, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He stopped when he saw me and glared half-heartedly before continuing what he was doing before.

"Friday, along with Kairi and Namine." At my curious glance he shrugged. "They want a change of scenery. In the meantime I don't have to go to school at all, and I get to just sit around and play video games while eating all of your Oreos. Isn't it great?" He ducked as I threw my pillow at him first, then laughed as I delivered the evillest glare I could muster at him. "Don't worry Rox, I was just kidding. I would never eat your Oreos."

I nodded, satisfied with his response. "Damn right. You touch my Oreos and you die. Clear?"

He grinned. "Crystal." He stood up, then paused, glancing back at me. "You might want to run into the bathroom before I do, because I'm still doing my morning ritual, and you have to redo the wrapping on your arm-"

That was all he got out before I dashed out our door, into the bathroom that was directly across from our room.

_ Thud._

Sora laughed as my face was suddenly acquainted with the wall with a sickeningly loud thump, and I groaned as I pulled back, rubbing my nose delicately. Behind me I could hear Sora's guffaws as he tried to catch his breath through the laughs and failed miserably.

"Dude! Can you say wipeout? 'Cause that sucked so bad it made that one really bad movie look _awesome_!" I rolled my eyes in irritation, noticing how he managed to contradict something he said before.

"Sora, you_ liked _that movie, remember? You said that it was awesome."

I couldn't see his face, but I could hear the mirth in his voice. "So? Who cares? That was so epically horrible, but at the same time it was so awesome it was like watching Wipeout all over again! All that you needed was the Big Balls, and then you would have been all set!"

I blushed self-consciously and responded in the only way that this situation called for; flipping him off. Unfortunately, that only amused him even more and I closed the bathroom door before he could say anything else. Pausing, I glanced into the mirror before beginning my morning routine; shower, teeth then hair, to avoid any extra mess, then makeup.

Setting the water onto hot, I waited for it to get to the temperature I liked, then undressed and stepped in, relishing the warmth cascading down my back. This was the one reason I liked the mornings. Hot showers were always the single best thing you could wake up to, no matter what.

Sighing happily, I stretched out my arms before grabbing the shampoo, lathering it into my now-damp hair. Then I glanced up, realizing that my arm felt like I hadn't even bothered taking off my shirt sleeve. Then I remembered; I still had the bandage on my arm, from the injury. My mind flashed over everything that happened yesterday, finally recalling the whole day. It always takes me a while to remember in the mornings.

I bit my lip, stopping what I was doing as I stared at the soaked white wrapping on my elbow. "Shouldn't it be stinging by now…?" I asked myself softly, poking it where I got injured. Stupid move, but for some reason it didn't hurt at all. No sting, nothing. _Mom works miracles with that stuff, doesn't she?_

Finally, I rationalized that if I was going to be changing the wrapping anyways, there was no point to me worrying about getting it wet and I finished what I was doing, not caring about the bandage. Massaging my fingers through my locks, I frowned as my mind drifted back to yesterday, after school with Sora. I hadn't thought of it until later, thinking of nothing but my brother freaking out, but I was curious about Sora and the mirror. I wasn't exactly observant, but I would think that I would notice it if my twin walked into the room wearing bright colors, especially if I was looking into the mirror already. Then, his strange reaction, not to mention the thing on the bed…

The frown deepened. That definitely wasn't the same thing as what happened at school. At school, in the town that the redhead was in, no one could see me and I was actually me, not a weird ball thing. Also, what did the girl mean by 'accidentally brought someone here'? And the first guy made a comment about twins, one being a girl, the other being a guy…

I laughed softly, placing my head under the stream of water to rinse out the soap suds. What the hell am I thinking? Stuff like that doesn't happen in real life. It would be stupid to think otherwise. I mean, sure, I was in it, but that could just be my subconscious dreaming. Things like that don't exist. Period.

I shook my head, trying to get the droplets out of my hair before turning off the water and wrapping a towel around me, stepping out and trying my best to ignore how the water slid down my legs instead of being held there by hairs. Namine and Kairi had done a great job, unfortunately, using a special razor that they said kept the hairs off for more than a week 'so that you don't have to cut yourself and bleed to death!' Their words, not mine.

Sighing, I pulled on a pair of Namine's flair pants that I had left in there the night before and she had deemed okay for me to wear, missing the fact that I had to actually wear normal underwear and not boxers. According to Kairi, you could tell whenever someone did that, and it just looked stupid.

Eventually I got to my arm and unwrapped the now dripping bandage, wincing at the thought of ripping off the scab while taking it off. However, I never got to that, as the bandage came off effortlessly, not even coming close to sticking there. I glanced down at the elbow and shivered in shock. "What the hell…?" I breathed softly, not believing what I was seeing. The skin was completely unmarred, no sign of even being scraped by anything. The only thing that made me positive that it actually happened was the faint red blotch on the white cloth, the only remnants of blood.

"Roxas!" Sora pounded on the door loudly, causing me to jump in alarm and drop the gauze. Hastily I picked it back up, heart beating rapidly. "Hurry up! Just because you're pretending to be a girl doesn't mean you have to take as much time as one!"

"Just a second!" I yelled over my shoulder, unable to yell back the usual retort. Instead I just stood there and raised a shaky hand, bringing it over to the ligament and poking it lightly, as if expecting the flesh to fall off and reveal what should have been there. No luck. The elbow was surprisingly in perfect condition, and it hit me that it should have taken at least a week to heal. A week. It was only a day, not even.

Unless… "Sora," I called out, hoping he was still outside the door, "I tripped yesterday, right?"

"Yeah," He responded, his voice laced with confusion. "Why? You forget?"

"Kinda," I said sheepishly, hoping to ward off any questions. Quickly wrapping another bandage around it, I pulled on a bra and a shirt that had been picked out for me by Namine; a black tank-top with lace on the bottom with a white one over it, 'Angel' written on it in flowy blue writing. I had refused at first, but when Namine told me the alternative (a blue tube top with a hideous overcoat), I grudgingly accepted the first option. Faintly, I wondered if I managed to get a bit more muscle they would put me in less… fruity clothing. Of course, it would be my luck that the only muscle I have is hidden so well- which I guess is a bit helpful, since it makes me look more feminine, and that _was _the goal.

I pulled open the door for Sora, grabbing the makeup that I left by the counter and beginning the process of putting it on. Subconsciously I watched the mirror, waiting to see him come in, wanting to see if there was something to yesterday. I was almost disappointed when I saw Sora trot into the room, pouting. "You take forever, you know that Roxy?" He whined, grabbing his clothes as well and starting to pull them on. He didn't bother to close the door; Mom knew not to come upstairs while we're getting ready. "And you didn't even leave for me to do my own stuff."

"You're not taking a shower?" I changed the subject, knowing that it would turn into a rant. He sighed.

"Nope, figured that I might as well wait and see you off to school. Be the good brother and all that." I rolled my eyes and refrained from comment, putting on the makeup as expertly as I could. I had a feeling that today was going to be a bit more irritating than yesterday.

* * *

Zexion greeted me at the front of the school, not allowing me to get lost again. At the sight of what I was wearing his lip twitched, but a glare silenced whatever was going to come out. Instead, he simply asked, "What happened to your arm?"

Glancing down nonchalantly, I shrugged, not showing that it freaks me out every single time. It wasn't supposed to heal that quick. Nothing did. "I tripped."

He nodded slowly, obviously not believing me but not wanting to ask. Briskly jerking his head towards the school, we walked silently over, meeting up with Demyx. His eyes landed on my elbow before he said anything else, but Zexion cut him off before he could ask. "She tripped." Demyx 'oh'ed in understanding and nodded, leading me to our first class.

The first half of the day was relatively simple. I only got a few questions about my elbow, and those were quickly warded off by Zexion and Demyx. Today Zexion didn't have his little book, something I wanted to ask about, but once again, I knew I wouldn't get a straight response, if I got any at all.

Today was the same as yesterday, classes all simple and easy. Sadly, I wasn't looking forward to lunch, and that says a lot, considering that I love food- like, really love food- and Riku had promised to eat with us today.

Oh, wait, I didn't go over that part, did I?

_It was boring, sitting in the gym alone. Zexion hadn't come up yet- still downstairs with Demyx (still can't believe they're not dating), so I was on the bleachers by myself, with only a few scant people around to watch. I sighed, tracing the zipper on my messenger bag once more, something I had accidentally made another habit._

_ "Hey, Roxanne!" I turned, and_ _I almost went insane at the view I was gifted with. Whoever made people warm up before P.E. Class- no, P.E. in general- was a _**god. **_Because right in front of me was Riku, in a tank top and baseball shorts, his hair not perfectly manicured for once but instead wild around his face, which was even better._

_ "Hey," I said nonchalantly, doing everything I could to keep the fact that my heart was beating wildly, not to mention when he reached out and brushed a hair out of my face I found it nearly impossible to keep upright. If it wasn't for the fact that I was sitting, well, I would be sitting anyways, because my legs were jello just from that single act that he probably only did subconsciously. God he's great. "What'cha up to?"_

_ He shook his head, disheveling his beautiful hair even more as it swung around. Almost like a Pantene commercial, really. "I'm free for lunch today. Mind if I sit with you?" I forced myself not to panic or jump up like an idiot and nodded calmly, even adding in a small smile._

_ "Of course! That'd be great! Do you mind if I'm still with the others too? I'm still getting used to the school." His eyes lit up in understanding and he sent me his own dazzling smile that sent my heart racing again._

_ "Yeah, definitely. I'll see you then, okay?" I nodded once more and he ran off, joining in on the basketball game instantly._

_ Only when he had gotten far enough away and Zexion walked in the door did I let out a yell of triumph._

There was a reason I didn't want to explain it.

At lunch, Riku had sat down directly next to me, favoring a tray of what looked like chicken soup, but no one could be certain. I nodded to him in acknowledgment, taking what I liked to call a dainty sip from my carton of chocolate milk and he smiled slightly, angling his body in a way so that he could still face me while sitting down properly.

"So, you enjoying school yet?" He asked, tilting his head in what most would call a curious manner, but I would call it seductive, the way his hair swept over his face, almost like a model. A very, very hot model.

"As much as one can enjoy it," I responded briskly, setting down the milk in lieu of looking at him. Everyone else at the table other than Zexion, Demyx, Luxord and Xigbar, so really only Vexen was giving us a ton of space, Zexion already explaining what was going on, and I think it was more out of dislike for me than dislike for Riku. He was still sending me glares the whole day, although he seemed at least cordial now.

Riku laughed again, leaning on the table closer to me. "Not very talkative, huh?"

"Only on things that are important to me." I tried my best to keep my voice from shaking as I kept my hands busy, stirring the food in my bowl.

"So, I think we're all curious, love." We all turned towards Luxord curiously, who was regarding me with an almost blank expression. He pulled a five of hearts out of his deck, smirked, then asked, "What's your family like? They have to be important to you."

I nodded, happy to have an actual subject. "Yeah! I have a twin brother, Sora. He's a little older than me, but he's probably only half as mature. Other wise, I have no siblings." In my peripheral vision, I saw Riku nod, disappointment flashing past his eyes for less than a second before he stood up. I glanced at him, startled, as he smiled apologetically at me.

"I just remembered that I promised Tifa that I would help teach the sevies. I'm sorry, but I'll have to postpone this. Is that okay? I really am sorry, and I would cancel it, but I promised Tifa ahead of time."

I nodded, disappointed. "Yeah, I understand. Talk to you later?"

"Of course. Bye!" With that he was down the stairs, towards the gym.

I sighed. There went my lunch date.

* * *

Friday came along way faster than I anticipated, and as so, I had three more people accompany me on my walk to the school in the morning. Sora, Kairi and Namine were lagging on behind me, laughing and joking about the prospect of 'new people to scare'. Well, Sora and Kairi were. Namine was never loud, and just listened along, like she always did.

"Guys, if you don't quiet down, everyone's gonna know that you want to scare then, and then it's game over," I said over my shoulder lazily, not bothering to look back at them. That worked for all of ten seconds, then they scuffled up next to me, with the exception of Namine again, who just sped up next to me without looking incredibly stupid while doing so.

"So, Roxy," Kairi began, twisting in front of me so that there was no way for me to ignore her, "We're gonna have to call you Roxanne now, right?"

"And a _girl!_" Sora teased, swinging around and wrapping his arms around Kairi, picking her up and spinning in a circle. Kairi squealed delightedly and Sora laughed, finally putting her down while I rolled my eyes, although I couldn't keep the small smile off my face. While these two were at a strictly platonic relationship, they're so close that they could already be married by now.

"Yeah guys, I know, it's funny that I'm a girl here, but could we please not comment on it? This is for a purpose, not just because I think it'd be funny to cross-dress for a year."

"You know," Namine finally spoke up, still quiet but mischievous. People always thought that the blonde girl always had a sweet smile on her face, but I laughed at whoever said that, because they were wrong. It wasn't a smile, it was a smirk. "I never thought that it would be you going through all obstacles just to find true love."

I huffed in annoyance. "It's not true love, I just like him." _A lot_.

Unfortunately, Namine read between the lines really well. "So why do you bother?"

I opened my mouth, then closed it. I had no real response for that. "Yeeeaaaah, Roxy, why bother if he doesn't mean that much to you?" Sora interjected, turning to walk on my left.

"We know you Rox- I can call you that, right?-, you wouldn't chase after some random ass, no matter _how _hot it was," Kairi chimed in helpfully. Suddenly I was glad that the school was approaching, up until I saw the blur of blue and blonde hurtling towards all of us.

I spun to the side, grabbing Namine's arm and taking her with me, ignoring her squeak of surprise as I dodged the human bullet. So, instead, he hooked onto defenseless Sora, who was, in turn, tackled to the ground.

"Roxy!" Demyx cried out in delight, not moving from his position of straddling Sora. The poor brunet was too shell shocked to move, although his eyes were darting everywhere just fine, so I wasn't worried about brain damage. Weakly Sora tried to nudge his way out, but like I had found before, Demyx was about the heaviest thing in the world when he was on top of you, and just succeeded in making their position look a tinnier bit awkward by making his knee go up, so that it looked like he was pushing Demyx down. Stifling chuckles of amusement, I beckoned Kairi and Namine over. Kairi, however, wasn't needed, as she already took out her pink Paupu phone and was beginning to take pictures of the awkward position.

"Demyx, I'm up here." Demyx glanced up in confusion, then back down. He went through that twice.

"Roxy Junior!" To Sora's eternal surprise, Demyx fully flopped down on top of him, grinning in predatory glee. "Oh man, you must be mister twin, huh?" He looked up, finally taking in Kairi and Namine. "And you must be the other wonderful twins! And so gorgeous too!" He cooed. Jumping off of Sora, he immediately turned to the girl twins, ignoring the fact that Sora was still on the ground. "What're your names?"

They both giggled in unison, truly twins. "Well, I'm Kairi, and this is Namine," Kairi introduced them both, giving him a sweet smile. Her eyes widened as Demyx was suddenly pulled back, him yelping as slate hair was apparent behind him, the boy grimacing in annoyance.

"Demyx, I think you might have scarred Roxanne's brother," Zexion said quietly, nodding slightly towards Sora, who still hadn't made a move to get up. I think he had deemed it safer down there, although I couldn't be too certain. More likely than not he just wasn't thinking and didn't want to be rammed again.

Demyx saw him and his eyes widened as he jumped away from Zexion, holding out his hand to Sora. "Man, I'm sorry! I thought you were Roxy, and, well, she never minds when I do that!"

Sora blinked, then grinned as he accepted the hand, launching himself up and giving Demyx the 'man hug'- you know, the one where it's almost like a hug, but they clap each other on the back-, which Demyx gladly returned. "It's all fine, man. I do the same thing to Roxy whenever h-she comes home. Now I finally know what it feels like. Although-" Here he shot a glare at me- "She always seems to avoid it in a way that makes me hurt myself."

I shrugged, trying my best to not to smile at the memory of my brother slamming into the door several days back. "Sora, if you're stupid enough to become the human missile, then I have no problem with making you run into random things." Sora pouted, and Demyx gasped in faux-shock.

"So cold! You know, So-So, your sister is exactly like Zexion. So callous and mean, but with a heart of gold!" Zexion rolled his eyes in irritation while the girls giggled again. I think it was more so because I was being called a girl, and it finally came into reality that none of these people at the school were supposed to know that I had male genitalia.

"Can we just get their schedule?" I interrupted before this whole meeting could get any worse. Namine and Kairi sighed in disappointment, but Zexion nodded, feeling the same as I was.

"Come on. They have to set you up with a schedule and a guide." Sora's forehead creased in bemusement.

"Guide?" He asked, tilting his head. Zexion nodded, happy that the conversation finally lapsed into something a bit more calm.

"Yes. While Roxanne did not need one, because we all had the same schedule and she started on the first day, you guys have no clue about this school, correct?" All three nodded slowly, recognizing the truth in his words. "Do not worry. Rikku will most likely be the one to help you, so there's no problem."

This time Kairi was the one who spoke up, confusion laced through her voice. "Riku? Like, Roxy's Riku?"

I blinked. "No, like Rikku."

"Riku?" Namine asked, still puzzled. I nodded.

"Yeah, Rikku." I told them. Sora looked like his brain was melting.

"Dude, we've been saying that! Riku!"

Zexion finally stopped me from saying anything else. "There is two Rikus. One is a female, _not _the one Roxanne is infatuated with, while the other is the one you know. Does that make it any more simple for you?" They 'oh'ed and nodded, suddenly understanding what was being said as the bell rang.

I sighed. "Sorry guys, but I have to get to class. Do you want me to go with you?"

Sora shook his head and sent me a grin. "Of course not Roxy! You can't ruin your record, now can you? Besides," He added, "It's not like we're going to get lost looking for the office."

"Oh, but it is possible!" Demyx laughed, wrapping his arm around my shoulders. Inwardly I groaned. "After all, Roxy certainly proved that!"

Sora glanced at me curiously. "Really? You did?"

Demyx looked down at me, amused. "What? You didn't tell them that you got lost for ten minutes while trying to find the office?" I looked down at my feet, finding my shoes to be a lot more interesting. Flipflops with rhinestones. If I were any less masculine, I would call them cute.

Kairi chortled, causing my cheeks to pinken. "Really? Ten minutes? Oh god, what else did you not tell us?"

_Please let the floor swallow me up. Please. _Somehow, I was finding this whole idea to be less and less thrilling.

I was almost dreading lunch again when it came, knowing that this would be about the time that Sora, Kairi and Namine would be coming back. According to Zexion, it would take the half of the day to show them around the school, only starting their schedule after lunch. Having the first half of school without them had been a blessing, but it was only the calm before the storm.

Sighing, I stirred around the mashed potatoes on my place, which looked like barf again. Wonderful.

"Hey."

I turned my head to the side, acknowledging the voice and going through my head silently. It sounded so familiar, but at the same time I couldn't think of it, like a memory from a long time ago. Sighing in defeat, I fully twisted my head around, and gasped sharply, my mind immediately blanking at what I saw.

Three teenagers stood behind me, slouching ever-so-slightly, but in a way that told everyone 'Fuck with us and die.' The two in the back had black hoodies without the hood on, but the one in the front stood out to me the most. Red hair flared out like fire, in every direction possible. Acidic green eyes leered down at me, greener than anything else I've ever seen before. Underneath each was a tattoo of an inverted triangle, black, and I almost winced at the thought of how much that should have hurt. He must have caught it, because thin lips drew up into a catlike smirk, directed at me.

The two behind him were painfully familiar as well. A blonde with green eyes- but not as green as the boy's, no where close- looked at the table disdainfully, her lip curled back in disgust. Her hair almost reminded me of antenna, the way they stood back from the rest of her head. She stopped when the other boy grabbed her hand and drew her closer, her face softening as she looked up at him.

The other boy smiled gently down at her before looking back up, his eyes hardening in an instant. Before, he almost looked feminine, with what looked like brownish-pink curly hair, perfectly layered down his back. Then again, once you looked at him closer, he didn't look anything like a female. Despite the hair and lean build, up close you could see the light muscles rippling with every move, and his face was chiseled into a sort of masculine beauty, his blue eyes almost like warm chips of ice, despite that being a complete oxymoron.

My mind flashed back several days ago, leaving me stunned and in no position to do anything at all. _My vision…_

_ They're real._

"Do you need something?" I could barely hear Zexion's clipped tone, focusing on the trio- or, the redhead. My mind had all but stopped at that point. They were real. Not just my imagination, not just a hallucination. Real.

The so-called hallucination leaned down closer to my face, the smirk becoming more self-assured. "You're Roxanne, aren't you?" I stayed completely still, still staring at him in shock. Sighing, he straightened back up, talking to who I assumed to be Zexion. "My name is Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?" He laughed, the sound failing to sound amused. Instead, it was almost satirical. "We'll be taking her with us now. Your turn is over. Thanks for taking care of her." His tone was completely sardonic, and I could feel the others frown as it became apparent that he was mocking them.

"May we have a little chat real quick?" Finally dragged out of my trance, I turned so that I could face everyone at once. Demyx had been the one who had talked, and while his tone and face were pleasant, his eyes were flaring in disapproval and anger, something that scared even me. Zexion was just as neutral as always, although concern was written lightly onto his face whenever he looked at Demyx.

"Why don't we just get rid of her?" Vexen interjected, causing everyone to stare at him. He had completely abandoned his food, and his fork was raised in the air as he pierced me with what could almost be a glare, but it didn't have the right emotions for it. It was just cordialness and a slight bit of contempt. "Make her their problem, not ours."

Axel clapped tauntingly, his smirk now becoming bigger. "See? Why don't you listen to Ice Princess there? It'd make your lives a whole lot easier." Vexen started to stand up, infuriated, but immediately stopped as Axel's glowing eyes met his. "Now now, princess, you don't want to draw a crowd, now do you? Remember what happened last time?" His face went white, and he sat down. I couldn't help the ripple of surprise that went through me as I noticed a look akin to_ fear_ on his face. Axel laughed jeeringly, accompanied by chuckles from the other two.

"Axel, we're wasting time. Just grab the girl and go." That was the other boy, irritation clear in his voice.

"Marluxia…" I murmured slightly, recalling the name from the vision. That wiped the smirk off Axel's face as he drew back in shock, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder to the girl.

"You brought _her _in?" At Axel's angry tone, the girl just shrugged, smiling in an almost smug way.

"You know how I am Axey," She cooed, bringing her hand up to his face flirtatiously. He ignored it and she sighed, drawing it back down slowly before letting it drop. "It was an accident, I swear. We were just talking about her, and I couldn't help but bring her in!" She offered a winning smile, and my eyes widened_._ It _was_ her… They all were the same. "You know what I mean?"

"Larxene." The girl twisted her head up, facing Marluxia. "That's enough." Larxene sighed but backed up once more, taking Marluxia's hand possessively. "You too Axel. This has taken long enough. We don't even know-"

"Come with us." All argument stopped as heads slowly turned to the table, over to where Zexion was sitting. Zexion calmly ignored it as he stood up, Demyx following not far behind him. Axel paused for a few seconds, mulling it over, then he nodded slightly, motioning to Marluxia and Larxene.

"Okay, we'll come and talk. But," He added, face darkening, "You already know the outcome, don't you?" Demyx bit his lip, but Zexion stayed blank as he turned around, already walking towards the empty music room. I stood up to follow, mind still foggy from the whole incident, but stopped when Zexion spoke again.

"Roxanne, stay here." I opened my mouth to argue, but stopped when I felt a hand on my shoulder. Sora, Kairi and Namine had returned.

"Rox? What's going on?" His features were twisted in confusion and alarm. I just shook my head, sitting back down. However, I didn't miss the look that Axel sent my brother, filled with recognition.

"You-"

"My name is Sora." Sora cut him off, unusually serious as he stared at Axel, daring him to say something. "I'm Roxanne's twin. It's nice to meet you."

Axel blinked, then laughed. "Nice to meet you, So_ra_." His cocky tone never faded throughout all the conversation, and even now he was as arrogant as possible. "I'm looking forward to talking to you, Sora." Sora opened his mouth but Axel continued, "In _person_." Sora winced and nodded, sitting down next to me. Before I could say anything, Axel was gone, along with the other two, already down the stairs to where Zexion and Demyx were waiting.

The table was quiet for a few seconds. Even Luxord had stopped shuffling his deck, the cards no longer making that swift sound that I was always used to. Eventually, everyone went back to what they were doing, talking, eating. No one even seemed to acknowledge what had just happened. Even Sora was quiet, just eating his food and talking to Kairi, who also had no clue what was going on. Namine was listening in intently, not exactly interested but wanting to be included. I was the only one who hadn't reverted back to normalcy.

Finally I stood up, unable to stay away. Sora grabbed my arm, rendering me unable to move. "Rox, what're you doing?"

"What does it look like?" I snapped, attempting to wrench my arm away. However, Sora kept his grasp incredibly tight, almost to the point that it was hurting me.

"Stay here, Rox," Kairi pleaded. I looked at her, her purple-blue eyes, and suddenly my mind became mush. "Sit back down and talk to us. Please?"

I slowly began to sit back down, still looking at Kairi. It was hard to remember why I had even stood up in the first place. I had a blurry image of the music room and wanting to go there, but I couldn't rationalize why. _Zexion and Demyx-_

"Kairi." Kairi looked away and immediately the spell was broken. I shot back up, glaring intensely at her.

"What the hell did you just do?" I spat, pissed. Namine sent me a quick glance, then nodded towards Luxord, who had just pulled out a card. Kairi and Sora looked briefly at it, and both faces suddenly went pale at seeing what card it was; the ten of spades.

"It's time he found out," Namine said softly, conviction in her tone. I didn't stick around to see what their reaction was as I bolted down the stairs to the music room, remembering exactly why I had wanted to go down there in the first place. Axel, Marluxia, and Larxene…

No. I wanted _answers_.

I waited outside the door, hearing their voices, but it was muffled, definitely not legible enough for me to understand. Pausing, I put my hand on the door knob and opened it, slipping inside and closing it before it made another noise. Now it was clear what they were saying.

"I don't care what the hell you saw! Roxanne is staying with us!" Demyx cried out, and for the first time I could see how he was scary in ways other than his bounding happiness. He sounded _furious_, and I didn't even know it was possible for him to even get mad.

"Okay, I see how it is. You don't give a damn that the world could possibly end, all that you care about is your own damn dignity. Yeah, that's _real _smooth. Hey, we're all going to die, but at least I get to die with a little blonde girl behind me who can't do anything because I thought it would be better that nobody told her what was going on." I couldn't see his face, but at Axel's words I could imagine Demyx deflating instantly. I almost took the time to wonder what they were saying, but that immediately stopped as someone started talking again.

"How do we even know that you are telling the truth? For all we know, you _want_ the world to be destroyed, and you want to use _them _for it. What proof do you have?" I nearly jumped as I felt someone grab my arm, but calmed down as soon as I saw it was Sora and the girls. Sora nodded, and I listened back in, almost glad to not be alone.

Unfortunately Larxene had already started talking. "-The pretty little blonde already knew Mar's name, even though she had never seen him before, so obviously we aren't lying about being able to do our own things. Besides, why would we lie about something like that? You already know what we're capable of. If we were wanting to use them for something like that we'd just burn the town down and take them." I shuddered at the sadistic glee in her voice, and from the looks of it Sora, Kairi and Namine disliked it as well.

"But, as you know, we like to do things in a more… gentle way. If you just handed her over, there would be no problem." That was Axel again, asking about… me, I guess. When I glanced at the other three, they shrugged, either not knowing what he was talking about or not wanting to explain.

"Why are you so interested in her?" Zexion asked softly, punctuated with Demyx's soft hum of agreement. "You already saw that she has a male twin, and for all you know there's other twins that fit your criteria-"

"There are none." Marluxia's tone caused me to shiver, and I desperately wanted to look over and see what was going on. "It's impossible that not only were they born on the same day, but the same minute and second? You would have to be stupid to not think there was nothing to them. Besides," he added, "Don't think I didn't notice her elbow. You really think that she tripped over her own feet?" I bristled defensively and almost missed the look Sora sent Kairi, the 'I told you so' expression. Namine furrowed her brow in confusion, and I could already see the gears in her mind working.

There was a few minutes of silence, then Axel let out another sardonic laugh. "Really? You say that you guys know everything that's going to happen, but you didn't know that she was _tripped _and therefore traceable by Marluxia?" Another chuckle. "Wow, you guys really are something. Here I was actually thinking at you were intelligent."

"I tried!" That was Demyx again, almost panicked. "I honestly did! You guys completely blocked me from everything that happened on her way home with that stunt! I thought she had died or something!"

"Demyx, hush," Zexion quieted him before he could say anything else. "There's a fault in your logic, if you didn't realize. Roxanne is female. According to legend, there's two sets of twins. A male set-"

"And a female set," Axel finished for him.

"Exactly. And yet, Roxanne's twin is male. Unless the legend suddenly changed, they're not your twins." I stored that in the back of my mind until later to ask about; knowing how the others were acting, they knew about it.

"Zexion-"

"Then why do I get the feeling she's important? Why did you place her under your wing if she has something to do with it?" Axel shot back, obviously irritated by the direction everything was going.

"Zex-"

"I don't think that qualifies as any of your business." Zexion's tone suddenly turned icy. "Who we befriend is none of your concern."

"Zexy-"

"None of our concern my _ass_!"

"Zexion!" Demyx finally shouted, all other attempts to get their attention having failed. Luckily for him, this time it worked.

"Yes, Demyx?" Zexion asked, frigid tone gone completely as he paid attention to Demyx and only Demyx. "Is something wrong?"

"The twins are here." Demyx's voice almost sounded faded, as if it took effort just to speak. Then I realized; he was talking about _us_.

"Get out of here!" I hissed to the others, pushing them towards the door. The way the room was built made it so that there was a hall about two yards long before you got into the classroom, making it the perfect place to hide. But now, when you're at the very corner of that and have to open the door and get out, it becomes a curse, not a blessing.

Sora almost made it to the door and reached out, leaving me thinking that we were almost going to get out of here without being caught. That thought was immediately squashed as a warm hand grabbed mine, pulling me back into the bigger room. I yelped as I was spun around and faced green eyes, almost level with mine.

"Well, well," Axel grinned, not moving an inch from where he was. "They say that curiosity killed the cat, but they didn't say anything about it killing the little girl playing hero." He leaned in closer, and I shivered as his cheek brushed mine and he lowered his voice. "Or, should I say, the little _boy_."

He backed up again, a fully self-assured smirk settled on his face as my heart sunk deeply. Somehow I knew that this was only going to get worse. A _lot_ worse.


	6. Legend

Revised 6/12/10 (By the way, my Sobe coupon just expired. I'm a sad, sad person. I wanted that Sobe. Just thought I'd waste a few seconds of your time.)

* * *

"Roxanne!" Zexion hissed, taking my arm and dragging me away from Axel, something that I was almost grateful for. However, when he delivered his full glare upon me, I found it nearly impossible not to shake in fear. As it was, the only thing keeping me from standing upright was my indignation and curiosity. "I thought I told you to stay in the cafeteria!"

"And I want answers!" I shot back, dropping my falsetto for the first time at school. I didn't care that Marluxia and Larxene were sending me strange looks, I was _pissed_.

"You can have your answers later! We needed you to wait, although now that you are here we might as well give up our cause!" Zexion let go and weaved his hand through his hair, stressed for the first time that I have seen him.

"Zexion, it was time. Luxord pulled the nightmare card." Zexion's eyes widened in shock as he looked over at Namine, the blonde girl's expression unwavering.

"What…?" He choked out. Suddenly Demyx was right next to him, and Zexion grasped his hand tightly, as if he was about to fall over. Demyx wasn't reacting the same as Zexion, although it definitely shocked him. Marluxia, Larxene and Axel all held the same expression of bemusement, which I sadly had to agree with. However, Zexion still shook his head stubbornly. "It still wasn't time. She didn't have to know-"

"Bullshit." The pure venom in my voice was enough to make even Zexion flinch and he looked at me, surprised. "I have been masquerading as a _girl _for the past week, and it turns out that it wasn't even for the reason I thought it was." I took one step towards Zexion, then another, and he backed up with every step I took, something akin to fear igniting in his eyes.

"Roxas, calm down," Demyx pleaded, pulling the slate-haired boy behind him defensively. I ignored him, my fists clenching so tightly I could feel my nails digging circlets into my palms and little rivulets trickled down my hand.

"Calm down? Calm down? You want me to calm down, when I have been tricked, lied to, degraded, and you want me to calm _down_?" My voice finally raised to a yell, and Demyx flinched again.

"We didn't mean to-" Demyx tried to rationalize everything, but I cut him off.

"Oh, you didn't mean to. Let me guess, you're sorry too?" Demyx nodded numbly and I laughed, the sound harsh in the almost sound-proof room. "Well, let it be known that _I'm _sorry that sorry doesn't cut it. I mean, look at me! Look at me!" I held my hands in front of his face, and his eyes widened at the crimson liquid that was apparent on my hand. As I had suspected, while the blood was still wet, the only sign that there even was a wound in the first place was the crusty blood in the shape of crescents. "I've become-" My voice broke off there, and I whispered brokenly, "What the hell happened to me?"

Demyx's face twisted in sympathy, but when his hand reached out towards mine I drew it back rapidly, crinkling my nose in disgust. "Don't touch me!" I spat, my moment of weakness over as quickly as it came. When a different hand, a warm one that smelled of cinnamon and smoke rested on my shoulder delicately, I spun around and punched the redhead straight in the face, reveling the way his eyes widened in surprise for the very first time. He staggered backwards, his hand clutching his face where I hit it, and I turned back around, facing Demyx.

"Stop…" I heard a voice behind me, soft and sweet. Namine. I ignored her as well, stepping towards Demyx again. I think he was afraid of me, judging by the way he was having to try his best not to shrink under my gaze. Hazily I wondered why no one was stopping me, not even Sora attempting to hold me back.

"Demyx," I started, my tone low and menacing, "Give me one reason why I shouldn't hurt you both severely. Right now." Demyx opened his mouth, but nothing came out. I snickered, raising my clenched hand again. "That's too bad-"

"I said _stop!_" All the emotions racing through me, all my thoughts- they stopped. Completely. This time when I looked at Demyx, I saw the tears flowing silently down his cheeks, his innocent eyes wide in fear. Past him I could see Zexion, who had bit his lip so hard that a trail of blood was dripping down his chin.

I was afraid to look behind me but I did anyways, knowing I had to face the consequences. A gasp escaped me as I took in Axel, who had sat down on the ground nursing his jaw. I knew that it wasn't because of how hard I hit him; I always was weak when it came to my punches. However, where I hit him there was a dark residue of shadows writhing on his face. Sora was kneeling down next to him, and when he noticed me looking he sent me a worried glance. Kairi was on the other side, talking in low undertones to Sora and Axel, and Namine…

Namine just gave me that blank look that she always did, not approving, not disapproving.

Slowly I shook my head, turning around once more. "What have I done…?" I murmured, horror dripping through my voice. That was all I could think before my mind overloaded and blankness took over my mind. I was unconscious before I even hit the floor.

* * *

_Stark pitch darkness. That was all that I could perceive around me, and it was to the point that I couldn't even see myself, or if I even _was _myself in the first place. When someone shuffled beside me, I realized with a jolt that I wasn't truly here. Either this was a dream, or… I swallowed. Or this was the same thing that had happened to me at school .Nonchalantly I checked my body. It was the same thing as the first time- even if I couldn't see myself, I definitely was not the little orb that I had manifested in when I was brought to Larxene and her group. It even felt like I was wearing the same clothes that I had gone to school in that morning, if the flipflops on my feet were any indication. While that didn't disprove my idea of it being just a dream, I somehow knew that it wasn't._

_"So, you are positive they are the ones, correct?" To my surprise, the first to talk wasn't the person who was next to me, but instead, it was someone in front of me. The voice was deep, definitely male. That figured out, I listened in as another voice entered the conversation._

_ "Not positive, Sir." The voice was familiar, but here I couldn't place anything. The darkness shrouding everyone certainly didn't help. I didn't know if that was how they saw it or whether I was just blind in this certain situation. "The one I thought was part doesn't fit the legend."_

_ I could practically hear an eyebrow raising. "How so?" He asked, slightest hints of displeasure apparent in his voice._

_ "The female has a male twin. Unless the legend changed, there is no chance that they are the right ones." There was silence for several seconds, and I used it to mull over their words. There was that legend again. The twins, whoever they were, were important, and I had a feeling that was why Zexion had made me be a girl. It was confusing everyone at this pace._

_ "Continue watching her," The deep voice finally decided methodically, confirming my previous thoughts. I could imagine the other person nodding._

_"Of course. I won't disappoint you."_

_

* * *

_

Groaning, I finally woke up, shaking my head. _Straightened hair… Okay, I'm still at school. _"Hey guys…" Opening my eyes I looked up at approximately eight heads, although my mind was still foggy, so I wasn't counting on being able to figure it out. I finally found Axel's face through the crowd, and winced as I saw the bruise, still with the traces of black that I saw before. I must not have been imagining it. "Sorry about your face."

I had to hold back the hints of a smile at how that sounded as he grinned, then grimaced. "Don't worry, I've been punched harder by the ladies I try to pick up. I'm actually surprised you remember."

inching myself into a sitting position, I winced as my head gave another pang of pain. "Yeah, I remember. I'm sorry Demyx, Zexion. I… don't know what came over me." Demyx nodded, all traces of him being upset gone, and his trademark grin was back in place.

"It's fine! You didn't hit any of us, only him-" Demyx gave a small glare to Axel, who shrugged indignantly and rolled his eyes. "We're fine. Zexion and I know what happened. And…" He paused, his head drooping. "We're sorry we kept so much from you. Or, at least, I am." I shook my head gently.

"Don't worry, it's fine. It's been throwing a lot of people off our trail, so I can't really blame you." Demyx looked genuinely surprised, while Zexion and Axel merely raised an eyebrow. I couldn't see anyone else from the angle I was at.

"What do you mean?" Demyx asked, blinking. Suddenly I could hear someone shift behind me.

"He has visions of things in the past," Sora's voice quietly drifted over my shoulder, proving that he was just as guilty as anyone else. I only nodded in agreement.

"We know." I blinked in surprise at Zexion, who just pointed to Demyx.

Demyx bit his lip. "I don't know how to explain this without sounding cheesy or make you not believe me on accident, even though you'd probably believe me, considering what you've been through, so… I guess the only way for you to know-"

"Is to show you," Axel finished with a smirk. Demyx's eyes widened and he dove to the side as Axel straightened up and, with an almost predatory grin on his face, snapped his fingers.

The results were instantaneous. From his fingers spouted a burst of fire, quickly engulfing his hand and moving up his body. I stared on in horror as he _laughed_ at the sensation of flame on his flesh, twisting it around happily. However, the laughter was cut short when a burst of water hit the taller man, quickly extinguishing the fire with an eruption of steam. When I looked over to where the water came from, I was faced with a panicked Demyx, who was whimpering slightly as liquid condensated on his hands.

There was silence for a few seconds. Then, "What the _hell _water-freak!" Axel erupted, enraged. It was almost comical, the way the water dripped off of his clothes and his hair was almost deflating, but not quite. "I wasn't going to let it get big-"

"So?" Demyx cried indignantly, the water pulling into the center of his hand and sinking into the skin. "You're in a school, dimwit! For all you know there's cameras!"

"You just don't like fire." Axel laughed jeeringly at Demyx when he looked down, his face red with anger. "It's okay though, Mommy doesn't care if you're scared, so why don't you just run back home-"

"That's enough." All banter stopped at Zexion's calm voice, as it always did. He turned to me, where I was standing completely still, my mind once again stunned into not working. "Roxas, are you alright?" I opened my mouth, then closed it, not trusting myself enough to talk yet. It took several moments to think of whether I should nod or shake my head. Finally, I decided with the positive reaction and his face relaxed. "You two shouldn't have done that," He scolded them lightly, sending them a reprimanding look. "It was a good way to convince her it was real, but at the same time you probably put her into shock."

Axel paused, not quite looking apologetic, but close. "So we're still calling him a her?" I bristled defensively at how it sounded, but said nothing, not wanting to bring up anything else.

Zexion nodded. "We still need to protect him from anyone who might be looking for the twins. If you came here for him, then obviously other people would as well. This is the best way to stop anyone from knowing. Are you okay with that, Roxas?"

Grudgingly I nodded. "It's the easiest way. Besides, it's not like I have any more dignity to lose," I muttered the last part, but from the look on everyone's face, it was obvious that they heard it too. Axel was even daring enough to let out a sharp laugh before he doubled over gasping, my hand buried deep into his stomach.

"Damn… Blondie," He wheezed, a slight grin still on his face despite the pain. Smirking to myself, I pulled my fist out and watched as he struggled to breathe again. "I feel sorry for the poor bastard who messes with you, that's for sure."

"Stuff it, flame-brains, I'm still not in the best of moods, which means that I'd be glad to beat the heck out of you if you irritate me again." Axel blinked in what I thought was surprise, but I wasn't too sure, because, come on, I've known him for all of… ten minutes? Then, I grimaced at my words. Even if I was kind of in shock, and embarrassed out of my mind, that had to be one of the more stupid things that I've said.

I glanced at Zexion again, who was visibly trying to hide his amusement at the redhead's pain. It looked like I wasn't the only one who disliked Axel. "Zexion, how much time do we have before our next class?"

Zexion bit his lip, glancing at the clock. "We only have about five minutes left." He sighed, glancing to the entire group. "We're going to have to postpone this-"

"No, we're not." Zexion glanced over startled as Kairi cut him off, her hands on her hips. She looked like the typical pissed-off housewife, which with her meant one thing; _no arguing_.

"We can't go to class late though," Zexion ignored the non-verbal warning and argued anyways. "If you all get into trouble on your first day, then you will be known as the troublemakers, and with what we have to do-"

"I can take care of it, Zexion. Trust me." I almost felt sorry for Zexion, with the look that Kairi was giving him. It was the one that always made Sora cave, not because it was like, 'Aww, I can't break her heart!' but because it was 'Aw shit, she'll break my _arm _if I don't give in!'

Zexion was smart. He listened this time and relented. "Okay, I trust you. I do not know how you will manage it-"

"Okay, see you in a bit!" With a girly wave, Kairi lept out the door, making Zexion have to stop yet again.

Finally Larxene let out a low wolf-whistle. "Da_yum_, if I wasn't taken, I'd do her in an _instant_!" At Marluxia's half-offended glare she shrugged. "Hey, I said if I wasn't taken. Don't worry Mar-Mar, you're the only one for me." She slid her hand across his jawline and started pulling his head softly towards her, standing on her tiptoes.

"Bleck! No, _please _no!"As if electrocuted they jumped apart, more so out of surprise than modesty by Sora's desperate plea. "I just endured you calling my best friend hot, and that's one thing you never have to hear about!" Larxene raised her eyebrow at that.

"What do you mean? Don't you find her attractive to say the least?" She purred, attention immediately being devoted to an indignant Sora, who was shaking his head in denial.

"We've been best friends since we were born. We took baths together even. I've seen her _boobs_, and trust me, there isn't much there-"

"Sora, just be quiet. Please. Or else I might be forced to bludgeon you over the head with the closest thing possible." Sora blushed sheepishly when Namine sent him an irritated glance. "Come on, we're supposed to be explaining to Roxas what's going on, not talking about how hot my sister is. Okay?" Sora slowly nodded, cheeks still tinged pink.

"Ah, the wonders of being gay," Demyx sighed happily, finally having stopped shaking. "For one, you don't have to worry about boobs, and talking about it doesn't bother me at all. It's like-"

"Being a female all on your own. I think we get it. Can we just get this over with now?" Marluxia interrupted impatiently. Demyx pouted but bobbed his head in agreement, glancing at Zexion.

"Zexy, you wanna explain first? You know the legend the best, I think." He sent a challenging look to Axel and Marluxia, who each shrugged in turn, motioning for him to start.

Zexion sighed, pulling up a seat. "This is kind of long, so I would suggest you sit down as well." In response, I sat down exactly where I was, staring curiously up at Zexion. Axel, Demyx and Sora did the same, Marluxia taking a chair and Larxene sat in his lap, hands intertwined. Always on the outskirts, Namine sat down, taking a notebook that was laying around on a desk, along with a pencil, sitting down against a wall. His lip twinged in amusement, seeing us all circle as if listening to a story- which, I guess we were- before he started, his voice becoming a constant lull.

"There was a time, long ago, that shadows haunted the world, absorbing and devouring whatever they could. These shadows were almost impossible to kill by normal, conventional terms, so humans were left defenseless against these creatures. Unlike them, and everything else on this planet, who were made of light and earth, they were created by darkness. They thrived in it, nourished it, breathed it. Soon, a name was created for them." Zexion cast a look over the group, causing me to shiver. "Heartless.

"These Heartless soon cast parts of the world into darkness, leaving people in fear to even go outside their house. Of course, when they covered the world with shadows, sunlight was dimmed, making it hard for it to reach anything. Plants started dying, along with people. Things were thrown into chaos. Not much can live without light, and the more time passed, the worse the dark cloud got.

"Then, suddenly, a group of people appeared, swords in hand. Somehow, they were able to fight the Heartless, banishing them with special powers. They called it magic." I shivered again, shifting uncomfortably. This felt too strange, too weird, but at the same time, it felt so _right_. Magic. It sounded right too. "There was four of them, two sets of twins. One was made up of males, while their counterparts were female. Every one of them balanced the others, creating a force that no one could even stand up to. No one really knows what type of magic they had, but two of them had an essence of light around them, while the other two had darkness."

"Their darkness was different than the Heartless' though," Axel broke in, the story being interrupted for the first time. Zexion nodded, eyes flickering over to the redhead, allowing him to continue. "Theirs was used for good. Darkness isn't necessarily evil, just as light isn't always used for the right things."

Here Zexion took over again, looking to Axel to make sure that it was okay. "This magic was what they used to fight the Heartless off, but they didn't work alone. Together, they found other magic users, ones who were open to the world and kindhearted, but none of them knew they had it. Magic was not known in the world. It would not have been for the twins bringing back the light, or, at the very least, attempting. The original four taught them how to use it, how to defend themselves and their families. Together, they sought out every Heartless they could, destroying them as mercilessly as the Heartless had destroyed their world.

"Finally, they thought that every Heartless had been annihilated. No matter where they looked, none were to be found, even when they attempted to lure them out. Gradually, the world settled down, no longer terrified of the Heartless, or anything else that could hurt them."

There was a long pause, too long. "Is that it?" I asked restlessly, staring straight up at Zexion, "I know there's more. What aren't you telling us?"

Zexion hesitated, then sighed, glancing away. Marluxia was the one who answered. "Someone had known about the twins, and was trying to capture them. He knew of their power, and he knew that they could either help the world…" I turned uneasily towards him, finding his icy blue eyes staring into mine. "…Or destroy it."

"It was just a matter of who had them in their hands, and what they wanted." That was Axel, his voice darkening ever-so-slightly. "They stayed free, and wanted to save the world. This man only wanted mayhem and devastation. The Heartless followed him, and so making him an almost unstoppable force. He never succeeded, but the four were forced into hiding, never seen again."

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly dry. "What was his name?" I finally asked, twisting to face Axel and shuddering when my eyes met his. Unlike Marluxia's and the way his were cold, calculating, Axel's were fiery, burning with anger, at us, or the legend, I don't know. Opening his mouth, he let out a simple answer that let a tremor down my spine.

"Xehanort."

Several moments of silence passed as I let everything sink in. I was, in general, a sceptical, practical person that only believed what I could see and touch, and even then only barely. As so, it was killing me that I couldn't bring myself to discredit anything that I was just told. I wanted to tell them to quit playing me like an idiot, but I knew that they were telling the truth. It would be kind of hard not to believe them, after Axel's flame-wielding, along with Demyx's water.

Eventually I looked down, not wanting to face Sora as I asked him simply, "Why didn't you tell me?" He was quiet, and I could feel how upset he was.

"We didn't know what was going on," He told me, his feelings apparent through his voice. Sora always was like that, wearing his heart on his sleeve. "We thought that if we didn't say anything and did what we could to ignore it, it wouldn't happen. That's just how it worked. We were afraid…"

"It's okay, Sora." I turned around and hugged him softly, which he returned much tighter. It was obvious how much he hated keeping things from me. Who knew how long it was? "I understand. Is there anything else that you can add on to what they just told me?"

He withdrew, wiping his eyes. I didn't even realize that he was crying. "Kinda. I didn't know about the part with them disappearing, but there was another part that they forgot, or just didn't know. Xehanort was locked up by the four, when they finally came up with a safe way to keep him contained, and how to attack him without him being able to capture them. Which means, if someone has the same idea that he did…" He looked to me, seeing if I followed what he was saying.

I did. "It's possible to defeat him," I finished, smiling as I saw for the first time an upside to the whole situation. "What I don't get is what we have to do. I don't see any-" A girly shriek cut me off and we both whirled towards the cause of the noise. Larxene was surrounded by little black… insect things. They were pure black, some of them fading into the floor and coming out, awkward big feet and glowing yellow eyes being the defining characteristics. This time Larxene let out a screech of rage as she pointed towards one and, with a burst of electricity, it dissolved into little shreds of shadow. "Don't see any Heartless," I ended lamely, watching dumbly as another burst of yellow lightning attacked another Heartless, Larxene becoming more and more pissed off.

"Stupid fucking Heartless _die!_" She screeched. Now I could see little strands of static on her body, getting more and more frantic as Larxene's temper increased. I don't know if I was staying away because I didn't know what to do, or because I was afraid Larxene would castrate me if I came anywhere near her. I spotted Axel setting some on fire, laughing quietly under his breath as the Heartless ran around, as if trying to get off the fire before dissolving into darkness, along with Marluxia, looking surprisingly frustrated as he stood back, eyes flickering around the room rapidly.

"Damnit, who doesn't have plants in their classroom…?" He muttered to himself, kicking at a Heartless that dared to come near him.

-_"It's not like plants can move, right?"_

"Roxas, come on!" Glancing at Sora, I was surprised to see his eyes glimmering in excitement as he looked between me and the shadows. "See how a pro does it!" With that, he threw himself directly in the middle of the throng, which seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. Somehow he slipped through them without touching even one, seeming almost liquid as he stood still. It seemed like none of the Heartless noticed him, not even when he brought his hands close to each other, light glowing between his palms.

"That's one of the things your brother can do. The way he is made, light particles collect around him, making it so that you actually have to look for him before you can actually see him," Zexion murmured over my shoulder. I nodded, remembering the mirror several days ago. I was surprisingly calm for someone who was just thrust into something that sounded like a bad acid trip, so it didn't register as strange to me. Just a simple fact.

My eyes widened as Sora took the light, drawing out his hands and taking the light with it. Slowly, Sora took a hold of one of the ends, touching it just like anything else that a normal person could grab. Then, in a move that I did not think Sora would do in any circumstance, his arm lashed out, taking the light with it. The strand cut through the Heartless like a knife, slicing them completely in half easily, causing at least six to fade with one slash. With a totally un-Sora-like smirk, he swung again, turning it into a graceful dance that none of the Heartless could keep up with.

"Can… Can I do that too?" I could barely hear myself ask that, still watching everyone fight in their own manner, including Demyx, who had joined in, keeping a close eye on Zexion and Namine, who was in the back of the room, drawing rapidly on the sketchpad.

I couldn't see Zexion from his position behind me, but I could practically hear him shrug. "I do not think so. At least, not in the manner that your brother does. Why don't you give it a try?"

I bit my lip and held out my right hand, uncertain of what to do. I had seen Sora try it, but I've never done anything like that. "It's okay that you don't know what to do," Zexion coaxed me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Just focus. It comes naturally. It's a part of you."

A small smile crossed my lips. _That _I could handle. This time, I closed my eyes, trying to draw anything into my hand. At first nothing happened, but after a few seconds, I could feel a pull coming from somewhere in me, and nearly grinned when I felt something come into my hand. Slowly I opened my eyes, taking in the dark blob in my hand.

That was actually the only thing that I could describe it with, other than it being soft. The blotch was constantly shifting shapes, and it kept moving, like it was impatient to start whatever it had to do.

"Zexion," I spoke in a low tone, not taking my eyes off the dark ball, "I'm pretty positive that I don't do the same thing as Sora with this. Can you help me?" Zexion sighed, taking his hand off my shoulder and backing up. I think it was to give me room, not because he was afraid.

"I'm afraid not, Roxas. This is something that I can not help you with. Just… try to think of something." With that he sat down next to Namine, and I was alone, something that I didn't want to deal with.

"Snap," I murmured, glancing down at the ball once more. It was obvious that it was different from the Heartless' darkness; this one was filled with kindness, and a certain willingness to help. _Now just to get it to work…_

"Roxas!" For the first time my eyes left the darkness and I was suddenly looking at Axel, who seemed surprisingly elated for someone who was in the middle of a fight. He had shifted his flames into a circle-like object and was spinning it around, cutting through whatever it touched. "Just use the damn thing! Trust me, there's no wrong or right way to do this-"

He was cut off when I flicked a little fleck of darkness at him, having it land directly on his nose. He stared at it for a few seconds, looking crosseyed in the process.

"What the hell Blondie. Sora was right for once. You _are_ a bitch." Glaring fiercely at him, I flicked another piece of darkness to join the others. This time, instead of just staring, he tried to wipe it off, only to have them stick to his hand. I think I saw one bounce.

"Are you done?" I asked levelly, hiding my amusement by bumping the ball in my hand. "'cause I'm not."

Axel sighed, then smirked, placing the hand that had the dark flecks onto my hair, causing me to shriek. "Okay, Blondie, just because you're new I won't lay you on your ass today-"

"Guys!" My eyes widened as I turned towards Namine, who was pointing at the wall directly to my left. "Watch through there! Something's going to come through!"

Seconds later, it did. A swirling, black… thing suddenly opened in the room, made of the same thing as the Heartless. I didn't have any more time to look at it as several people walked through them. Dressed in all white, they moved fluidly, as if made up of water. Spindly limbs protruded from their malformed bodies, each of them seeming less and less normal the more I looked at them. Their heads were huge though, and at first I thought that they were wearing a coat, because there was a zipper where their mouth should have been. Then, one of them unzippered, without any help from their misshapen hands. I found myself holding my breath as it completely unzipped, then gasped in shock as the mouth shot open, revealing an endless void.

It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that those weren't human.

Paying no attention to Axel, who was cursing under his breath rapidly, I focused on the darkness in my hand trying to figure out what to do with it. I wasn't supposed to use it like Sora; it was too different. However…

Placing the other hand on top of the darkness, I drew it out, the same way Sora did, except this time, instead of pulling out like a whip, it became almost like a sword. Placing one hand on a part I knew to be safe, I tested the other part with my fingertip and winced slightly as it cut in. Sharp to the touch. Kind of lame and unimaginative, but for a spur of the moment thing, it worked out pretty well.

"Nice job Blondie, maybe you won't just be deadweight!" I took in Axel's lighthearted gaze and laughed, swinging the makeshift sword lightly to test the weight. Perfect.

"Maybe if you're lucky I won't do better than you!" I teased, getting into a battle stance. "Come on, help me with these weirdos!" He chuckled, walking up next to me and melding the flames to make his own type of weapon, a circle-type object with spikes on the end and a handhold in the middle. I didn't have to ask to know that they were about as sharp as my weapon.

"Gladly!" With that, he flung himself in, swinging around his weapon in a circle around him, cutting cleanly through one of them. It let out a screech of rage before disappearing in a void of light, causing the others to move a bit more frantically. Smirking, I followed Axel's lead, slashing wherever I could hit one. For some reason, the fighting came naturally to me, each swing carefully calculated and precise. But then, maybe it wasn't natural to me, but to the darkness, which seemed almost _happy _to be fighting for me.

I hissed in pain as one of the things hit me, drawing a large cut down my left arm. I felt nothing but contented smugness as I swung the blade sideways down, cutting him clean through, from the neck to where I would think its hip would be. That gave me yet another hint that they weren't human as no blood left its wound before it disappeared, letting out the same screech the other one did.

Then I spotted the flames coming towards me. "Duck!" Axel yelled, coming into my vision. I didn't need a second warning as I dropped down, letting the flames pass over my head. Spinning, I slammed my blade into one, watching as the circle hit a different one that was directly behind me, the flames quickly heading like a boomerang into Axel's waiting hand. Noticing me looking at him, he smirked, flourishing the weapon once more.

"It's called a chakram, babe, and while I may be sexy, we have one more to go." I rolled my eyes at his arrogance and jumped up from my crouching position, facing the last one. It almost looked nervous, as if it realized that we had killed every one of them and it was the only one left. Still, it stood there, as if calculating which one to attack first. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the others still fighting Heartless, so they weren't going to be over here any time soon.

"Guys, hold still!" Immediately, I stopped moving at all. I think I even stopped breathing, holding my breath as I waited for Namine to do whatever she was going to. Beside me, I could see Axel do the same, meaning that all the others must have too.

A few tentative moments passed while we wondered what was going to happen, when suddenly, all the creatures vanished, completely fading from the room. Even the white guy in front of us disappeared, leaving no sign that it had even been here other than the messy room.

"…" I paused, catching my breath. "Nami…?" I asked, doing my best not to move my mouth. She giggled softly.

"It's okay, you can move now." With that, I think everyone in the room dropped to the ground, including me as all our weapons dematerialized, which would have been alarming had we not known the battle was already over.

"Nami?" This time it was Sora who asked, all of us turning to face the blonde girl. She simply held up her sketch pad, which she had a simple drawing on the page. It was the room, looking exactly how it did when we were fighting, except none of us were in the room, and as when they vanished, there was one lonely white thing that had been next to me and Axel, even though we had been there next to it.

"They're captured in here now," She said softly, motioning towards the sketch pad. "I drew an empty room with you guys, which is why I needed you to hold still. Had any of you moved, it would have disoriented you at the least, and I don't know what would have happened."

Swiftly, I did a quick room check. Everyone was still in the room, except for Kairi, who hadn't been in here, which confirmed that everyone had listened. Even Larxene was still in the room, looking satisfied with herself. Sighing, I stood up, my hands tingling. Whatever cuts I had gotten were already healing, and I had the uncanny feeling that my powers weren't only limited to me

"What were those things?" Demyx asked frantically, flailing lightly from his place on the ground, close to Marluxia, who was unscathed and looking irritated. As I placed my hand on his arm, I watched as my hand glowed softly, healing the cuts on Demyx's arm. It was obvious that he wasn't much of a fighter. He glanced up at me surprised. "Oh, thanks Rox." I shrugged then went onto some of the others, making sure that they weren't hurt too badly. Luckily, none of them were, and I sat, sliding down the wall.

"Those badboys were called Nobodies, annoying recreations of light that have the same goal as the Heartless." Axel drawled out, playing with a fire on his fingertip before snuffing it completely. "They weren't mentioned in the legend because they didn't exist, scholar-boy, so don't even bother asking." Zexion's nose twitched in irritation, but he said nothing, instead looking away.

"Hey guys!" Kairi burst into the room, practically skipping. "You guys are excused for the rest of the day to help clean up the music room, which is not being used at all today. That's what you guys have to say if anyone asks, okay?" Suddenly she stopped, taking in the disheveled room and all of us, some of which were laying down on the ground, trying to catch their breath. I could tell that all of us were debating on whether to ignore her, or to actually pay attention. "Did something happen?"

I laughed softly from my position against the wall, along with several others in the room. I mean, come on, it was just perfect for little miss Sunshine to pop in right as soon as the battle ended. Not to mention kind of sucky, considering that I was now exhausted.

Then I realized something, something profound and it seemed so important at the time. And, of course, I let it out the way people normally do when they're tired; by blabbing it out no matter how stupid it sounded.

"I'm still dressed like a chick!"


	7. Confusion

Short. Very short, and after such a long time. Probably rushed, but I'm finding myself not caring. This whole chapter has just been kicking my butt the whole time I was writing it, like a major block. I'm sorry for those of you who have been waiting for it, and thank you for reading it after so long. I'm hoping for next chapter to come out quicker!

Thanks go to everyone who reviewed, along with my beta Quinn96. Love you guys! Also, slight warning; The characters might be a little OOC, on accident, and there's some cursing, along with slight breaking of the fourth wall- but only if you look closely. But hey, it's rated T for a reason, right?

Normal disclaimer, as always.

Word count: 4,742  
Page count: 7 on OpenOffice

* * *

Ten minutes after Kairi made her way in, I found myself pouting in sheer irritation. "I don't want to go as a girl anymore!" I cried out to Zexion, who rolled his eyes and ignored me, moving to clean up the desk that had gotten messed up when we were fighting. "Axel won't stop making fun of me! I want him to stop _now_!"

Axel waggled his eyebrows at me, something that I had gotten used to quickly as he placed the trash can back in the corner. "Come on Roxy, just act your age!" I glared fiercely at him.

"If it wasn't for the fact that I could get in so much trouble and I'd have to clean up, I would _strangle _you," I muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. He raised that same eyebrow again.

"That's not acting your age, that's acting my age."

"I am your age!"

"Guys." We both paused as we looked over at Naminé, listening intently in case it was a warning for something. Except, instead of the helpful guidance she normally gave, she was rubbing soothing circles onto her temple, giving us the nastiest glare I have ever seen. "Shut up. _Please._"

"Yes ma'am," I replied, picking up another piece of trash and putting it in the trash can. Biting my lip, I had to stop myself from punching Axel again as he snickered.

"Dude, you are _so _whipped, you know that?" I rolled my eyes and leveled him with a glare of my own as another piece of trash made its way into the garbage bin.

"You try practically living with her…" I muttered again. I didn't bother talking anymore as I simply cleaned the room, exactly like the excuse Kairi gave the office, ironically. She had tried to get out of cleaning by saying that she wasn't here when the mess was made, but with the sheer amount of hate we were sending her, she sheepishly joined in. While it wasn't too messy from our fight, it had to be sparkling for the office to accept Kairi's excuse.

I barely noticed when Zexion stopped moving, but listened in as he started talking. "Why don't we just have Naminé draw the room clean?"

No one had the chance to respond before Naminé shook her head. "I used up too much energy as it is, transferring so many into the paper," She said softly, biting her lip. "I would, but considering that we don't know what else might pop up, I would like to just keep my energy, if that's okay." We nodded, and with that being said we finished up the room in the next hour, although we had to stop constant injuries as Sora tripped over his own feet and I kept retaliating whenever Axel did something that irritated me. Oh, and Demyx tripped over everything in general as well. Zexion was the only one who cleaned without incident, if only because he could stay in one place while cleaning.

_"What the…?" I gazed at the moving items, stumped as they drifted across the room, settling down into the perfect places. I glanced at Demyx, then Zexion, stumped. Zexion noticed it and smirked slightly, flicking his hand to the left. The objects took a sudden jerk towards the same direction._

_"I'm not just useless either," he told me. The only reason you could tell that he was amused was the way his eye glimmered. I shook my head, wrapping my mind around it. Okay, so I could make little dark balls and make weapons out of them, which should be impossible, but it isn't, so telekinesis shouldn't be that weird, right?_

Finally, with an hour left to the school day, the room was completely immaculate. Even the dust was wiped from the corners, something that probably hadn't been cleaned in _years, _from the amount we got out. Sighing, I wiped a hand across my forehead, then noticed Axel's face again. The shadow was still there, from when I punched him before, not twitching, but moving fluidly, almost like a moving bruise.

He noticed me after a few seconds, and a smirk slid across his face easily as he stretched. "See something you like?"

Before I could shoot out a witty retort, Demyx beat me to it. "It can't be the hip bones you can see jutting out. Seriously, I think you should eat more. You might go anorexic."

Axel blinked before laughing, coming out of his stretch. I don't think it was the actual comment that was funny when you compare it to the fact that the only thing you could hear in Demyx's tone was sincere concern. Before I could get distracted again I cut in, "I was actually noticing the shadow on your face. I did that, didn't I?"

Axel's face twisted in confusion, and his hand drifted up to the place I hit him, as if having to actually remember, while Zexion nodded. "I was wondering if you would comment on it."

I rolled my eyes impatiently. "So how do I fix it? Just touch his face and voilà?" I waved my hand close to his face as an example and the dark blob automatically seeped out, absorbing into the palm of my hand.

I blinked. "Well, that was unexpected."

Axel chuckled, slinging his arm around my shoulder. "Well, hun, _nothing's _expected when it comes to this type of business. Got it memorized?" However, he never got further as my fist found itself delved into his stomach for the second time today. I withdrew it slowly, trying my best not to laugh at the way he doubled over, his arm automatically leaving my shoulder to cross over his stomach protectively.

"Say that catchphrase _one more time_…" I didn't finish the threat, but I didn't need to as Axel finally gasped in a breath, choking slightly as a shaky laugh made its way out.

"Damn, girl's got _bite!_" He grinned, despite the obvious glare I was sending him. "Sora, you never told me that little Roxy was feisty!" I paused, the sentence suddenly taking meaning in my mind.

"Sora, you know him?" I glanced over at Sora, who began blushing. One of the things that he always did when he got caught doing something.

"Well, here I am talking to him," he said evasively, his eyes avoiding mine. I scoffed at the response.

"Sora, come on, don't lie to me. We never lie to each other!" He opened his mouth to protest, but I continued, "Nope, my arm doesn't count, because you never asked fully. Come on, So. Please?" He bit his lip, then sighed, looking down.

"He was in my kindergarten class with me. You know, the year you didn't go in. You were still halfway home schooled, due to none of the teachers willing to deal with your trouble making," He admitted, throwing an apologetic glance at Axel. He just shrugged nonchalantly, obviously not caring. "He moved away again, but I always emailed him."

Before anything else was said, Marluxia spoke, a small glare going Axel's way, "I see that there's a bit that we haven't been told. Axel?" Axel cringed, then laughed, a easy-going grin sliding onto his face as he held up his hands.

"Guilty as charged. Come on you two, I'll explain everything this time. Promise." With that, he threw a wave in our direction and gestured to Marluxia and Larxene, following them out the door.

* * *

"Roxas, pass the salt?" I shook out of my thoughts as Dad's bluish-green eyes stared at me, his voice slightly impatient, and I realized that he had been asking several times. Blushing lightly, I grabbed the salt-shaker and passed it to him.

"Sorry, Dad," I muttered, taking another bite of the lasagna Mom had made. Dad raised his eyebrow but said nothing, instead just eating his freshly salted corn. Mom almost looked like she wanted to say something but stayed silent, daintily eating her food while listening to Sora, who had begun talking once more. Sighing, I delved into the food, not having much to give to the conversation and preferring to remain quiet.

It was the day after meeting Axel, Saturday, and for some reason I couldn't bring myself to concentrate on anything. Every time I tried to do something, it would remind me of what was going on, and I'd get lost in thought on that, eventually forgetting what I was thinking about in the first place. Very annoying, but I couldn't do anything to stop it.

Finally, dinner ended, and after cleaning up the dishes, both Sora and I went upstairs, Sora managing to trip over the stairs and run into a wall twice in the action, which was kind of strange when I thought of how he slid through all those Heartless the day before, like he was light himself.

When we were in our room, I asked him about it, and he laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. "Well, what would the fun in that be? Light can be goofy and clumsy as well as quick and efficient. I just choose to be all of them."

I frowned thoughtfully, sitting down on my bed. Sora did the same, yawning as he rustled the blankets around him. "I'm still surprised that this isn't all a dream," I mused, flicking on the lamp next to my bed. Sora nodded, his eyes distant, as if remembering.

"I was the first one to know about it," Sora said suddenly. I furrowed my eyebrows, and he went on, pointing at a spot on the other side of the room. "I don't know if you can see it, but over there, there's a concentrated spot of light, a little stronger than the rest of the light in the room." Squinting lightly, I nodded when I saw it. Since yesterday, I found myself a lot more sensitive to the light and darkness in an area, and sure enough, I could see a small square where Sora pointed that was slightly brighter than the rest of the room. "It's showing a Heartless in an alleyway, sniffing at blood, with a big plant next to it. Of course, I have no clue what that means, and it's going to go away in a second anyways, so it doesn't matter." Sure enough, it faded away, leaving no sign of even being there in the first place.

"How did you…" I started, but couldn't find the words to finish as Sora looked over at me, his face calm but calculating.

"When I was seven, I saw the battle we had yesterday, except it was Naminé, sketching her picture. It never moves, just shows me a picture, so I never truly know what's going on." He laid back down in his bed, drawing the blankets up around him. "I'm going to bed early, though. I'm a little tired." I nodded slowly, also preparing for bed. Sora gave me one last smile before nestling into bed, sighing contentedly. "Good night, Roxy."

I tried to frown at the nickname, but as always, it was _Sora_. I could never be upset at Sora. "Night, Sor."

* * *

_Ring, ring, ring._

The violent sound in my ear was what woke me up, and from the groan on the other side of the room, in Sora's bed, it woke him up as well. "Roxas, you get that…" He mumbled into his pillow, still hanging halfway off the bed, but managing to keep his face in the cushion. Actually, it sounded more like a Smurf choking on something, but I knew how to decipher Morning-Sora talk, even when I was barely awake myself.

"It's your turn though…" I grumbled, but sighed as I got out of my cocoon of blankets and grabbed the phone, noticing the bright pink note proclaiming that Mom was out with Dad getting groceries. They always do that on Sundays. Finally, I pressed the talk button, holding it up to my ear. "Hello…?"

_"Roxas? This is Zexion."_ I groaned, rolling over onto my back and settling back down.

"Zexion…? What do you want? You do know it's only…" I glanced at the clock, and my eyes widened. "Oh my _god, _you freak, it's only ten in the freakin' _morning_! What possessed you to call me this early?!"

The bastard. I could already _hear _the smirk in his tone. _"You know, I could have always let Demyx wake you up. He_ is_ a morning person, after all."_ To my horror, I could hear a loud 'whoop' in the background as something crashed to the ground and Zexion sighed._ "Demyx, please put my couch back. Mom would not like to see that you were already destroying the house."_

_"Sorry Zexy!" _I heard Demyx sing-song before gasping excitedly. _"Oh my gosh, is that Roxy?! Can I talk to her?! Is she coming over?!" _

That was all I heard before I tuned the rest out. "Okay, okay! I get it, talk to you or psycho-freak. I swear, if you let him on the phone…" I didn't finish my threat, but I didn't need to as Zexion began talking again.

_"Of course. However, there actually was a reason I called." _I nestled back into the blankets, missing the heat immensely as my brows furrowed in confusion. What? _"__I need you and your brother to come over today around eleven. Axel will be here as well, most likely."_

I laughed, the comment seeming hilarious in my sleep-fuzzed mind. "Nice joke. No, seriously, what did you need?"

Ah, there was the eyeroll I knew was coming along. _"I'm not joking. I actually need you two over, as soon as possible. I thought I would be generous and give you an hour, though. That should be enough time for you to do your morning things." _I sat up, waiting for him to say something like 'kidding!' or 'haha, you just got punk'd!'.

But, of course, he didn't, because that would be out of character.

"So, what you're saying…" I began slowly, still trying to wrap my foggy mind around the prospect of getting not only out of bed, but out of the house, "Is that I have about an hour to get to your house, when I don't remember _ever _getting up before at least twelve on a weekend."

_"That is correct." _Zexion responded, his voice clipped and decisive, like there was no arguing. I humored that thought for all of a second- very considerate of me, I thought, considering how ludacris it sounded.

"No."

Once again, I could hear the eyebrow raise. _"No?" _I said nothing and Zexion sighed, the sound very hostile. It didn't take a genius to know he was glaring at the phone. _"Tell me, Roxas, is your lamp moving in any way?" _Surprised by the strangeness of the question, I glanced over at the midnight blue lamp sitting innocently on my bedside table.

"No, I can't say it is-" Suddenly I was cut off as a yelp of pain forced itself out of my throat when something crashed across the top of my head. It wasn't hard enough to cause serious damage or to break whatever it was, but it was hard enough to cause a sharp aching pain on my temple. Is it even _possible _for a sharp pain to ache? "Ow! Fuck!"

Zexion tutted. The bastard. His tone was full of badly veiled amusement. "Now Roxas, you should watch your language. It's definitely not appropriate for someone as young as you." I looked up, noticing the same blue lamp that was hovering in midair, spinning ever-so-slightly, as if mocking me, and groaned again.

"How the hell did you do that?! I thought that you had to be in close proximity or at least in the same freakin' area to move the item!" I paused. "How'd you know I even _had _a lamp?!"

_"I never said that-"_

"Roxy…?" Eyes widening, I turned slowly towards my brother, who was still laying in his bed, thankfully face down. Not for long though, as his head lifted out of the covers, his blue eyes blinking sleepily. "What's going on? Everything okay…?" That's when he took in the situation, his eyes flickering. First to me, then the phone, and finally the lamp that was still floating in the air, which had stopped spinning in lieu of dropping close to the floor, but then lifting up again, repeating that cycle several times. Sora gazed at the scene for a few seconds, taking in everything.

Then dropped to the floor in a dead faint.

I stared at him for several moments, then cursed rapidly, tossing off my blankets and throwing myself out of bed. "Great, now I have to deal with Sora, who's currently on my floor playing dead. Nice going." Zexion started to speak, but before he could get a word out I interrupted him, "We'll be there at eleven, okay?! Just drop the stupid lamp!" I hung up, and immediately the lamp plummeted to the ground, making a nice loud thunk before laying on its side, completely still.

Sighing, I reached down to pick it up, placing it on the bedstand once more before turning to my brother. Preparing myself while subconsciously promising Zexion death threats, I walked over and prodded Sora with my foot three times in the shoulder. _Prod, prod, prod_. Sora moaned, something about a scary lamp, before rolling over, latching his mouth onto my big toe.

"…" There was silence for a few seconds, and I looked down at him, my eye twitching as I tried to acknowledge exactly what was going on. Finally, I settled with the fact that it really was my toe he was sucking on, and the excess drool was dribbling onto the rest of my foot, which felt disgustingly like the time Sora dropped the tapioca bowl onto the floor, and somehow he managed to stay spotless, but I had it all over my foot. Seriously, did he even _know _where my feet have been?

That's about the time I realized I didn't even know where Zexion lived. Officially the morning from hell.

* * *

Eventually we made it to Zexion's house, with me having to call him back and relinquish the rest of my dignity by asking him where he lives- after I managed to get Sora off my foot, of course. We even made it there relatively close to eleven, something that I was rather proud of, considering we only had half an hour to get ready and get there because of how long everything took. Of course, I didn't even manage to knock on the door of the blue house (who would paint their house _blue?_) before it was open and a blue and yellow blur flew towards me, effectively tackling both me and Sora to the ground.

"Roxas!!! Sora!! You made it!" The blob gushed, excited. I could hear Sora groan in pain next to me, and I barely withheld from doing the same, instead pushing the blonde boy off of me so that I could roll out, getting up quickly.

"Roxas… I swear to god, if you don't get him off of me, I think I'll suffocate," Sora gasped out, looking at me pleadingly. Demyx blinked, surprised, and launched himself over Sora, pushing his hands against the ground to flip himself onto his feet. Sora glanced at him as he got up, somewhere between awe and irritation while he brushed himself off. Mentally I congratulated Demyx; it takes a lot to rile my brother up.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Zexion walk into view, leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed over his chest. "You're late," He informed us shortly, his hair waving into his eyes slightly. I rolled my own as Sora sputtered in indignation, unable to get anything out.

"Only just. Ten minutes doesn't exactly count," I told Zexion. I promptly ignored the other two behind me as I glanced behind Zexion nonchalantly. "Can we come in?" In response, Zexion straightened up and waved his hand casually, moving slightly to the side when I made my way inside, a small smirk sliding onto his face.

A few seconds later, I glared at him. "You never told me Axel was here," I accused him before going back inside, thankfully missing the mild amusement that you can just _barely _tell is there that Zexion was most likely showing.

"I did, but you just didn't bother to listen," his voice drifted after me, and I scowled, turning around. My eyes widened in surprise as I ran into something not exactly soft, but softer than a wall. I looked up and glared fiercely as green orbs framed by brilliant red hair stared back down, the green glimmering in mirth. "Axel," I greeted cordially, backing up quickly. He stifled what looked like a laugh as he stood up once more, emphasizing how short I was compared to him.

"Glad you remembered me," I rolled my eyes again, but didn't bother to say anything as we made our way into the living room next to us, followed by Sora, Zexion and Demyx- kind of funny, really, when you remember that Zexion was the one who lived here. Honestly, it looked like a place Zexion would live; two mahogany bookcases were situated on one side of the room, with a creme couch next to them. Across from the couch was a small T.V., and matched with the dark green shade of the room, it was really nice.

"Hey Zexion? Where's your mom and Axel's friends?" Sora asked, confusion tinting his tone.

"Marluxia and Larxene are out exploring the town while my mother is out shopping," Zexion told him, sitting down on the couch in the far corner. Still Sora looked confused.

"Why isn't Axel out with them? He's new too, I thought." Axel chuckled, glancing at my brunet twin.

"Heh, I already know the town inside and out. It helps that I lived here for about two years when I was about five." He laughed slightly, though the action didn't match his eyes, which were tinged with regret. I bit my lip, then decided that curiosity overrode sensitivity. There was something he was hiding.

"Why'd you move?" I asked, trying my best to keep my voice nonchalant. One thing about Axel; if you took too much interest, he'd turn it into a joke, which was the exact opposite of what I wanted, and luckily, the opposite of what I got. The redhead shrugged, his voice flat and apathetic- something I had never heard from him before.

"We just needed a change. My old town couldn't handle me anyways." Another laugh, except this one matched the emotions in his eyes. I furrowed my eyebrows, thinking about what he said.

"Couldn't handle you-?" My eyes widened as my thoughts raced back to last week, my vision in Social Studies. _-Redhead, eyes closed, town burning, fire, so much fire, boy commanding the flames-_

I couldn't help the sharp intake of breath, causing those in the room to glance at me, confusion laced across their faces. I ignored it as I grabbed Axel, narrowing my eyes as a sign to stay quiet as I told the others briskly, "Be right back." Axel threw a two-fingered salute to them, a small grin covering up the slight bemusement in his eyes as I dragged him up the stairs and through the hallway, finally settling on the bathroom at the end of the hall, which was spacious enough, being about half the size of Zexion's living room, the counter taking up minimal space.

Once inside, I let go of Axel's wrist, wincing at the redness of my hand due to his body heat and closed the door, leaning against it as Axel gave me an amused look.

"What, Roxy-kins, finally come to your senses and decide that you desperately want nothing more but to be my best friend-"

"You're the one in my vision," I cut him off, my voice a little above a whisper, but barely. He heard though, as his grin suddenly became a bit more forced.

"You're that desperate for me? Damn, Rox, I know I'm irresistible and all, but having _dreams _about it already-"

Once again I stopped him, for once not caring about his innuendos. "You're the one who burnt down the town."

At once, the grin disappeared, replaced with a guarded expression. Bingo. "I don't know what you're talking about," He said coolly, his face not betraying anything. I couldn't stop myself from the glower that was directed at him.

"Bull," I spat out, not willing to deal with his dodging the subject or lies. This was important, I _knew _it. "You moved here when you were five. A four-year old boy with red hair was manipulating the flames while the whole place burnt down. Unless you know someone else who can do that, I'm pretty damn certain it was you." His lips twisted in distaste, and he stood up straight, indignant.

"I-" He stopped, as if the words couldn't get out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and tried again. "You don't know what you're talking about. It didn't happen like that. I had a _reason, _god damnit, and it was a good one too." He scowled at me, and I finally figured it out. He thought I was accusing him.

"I know you had a good reason," I told him softly, pulling myself off the door but staying in front of it. It looked like he wanted to get away, whatever way he could. I wasn't going to let him until I got an answer. "I was just asking what was going on. I wanted to know what happened to you afterwards, if you were okay." I bit my lip. Obviously he was okay, if he was standing in front of me, but who knew about the psychological damage? He must have had family there. If he didn't do it on purpose…

There must have been a really, really good reason.

"I never asked you to care," He had stiffened at my previous statement, and glared at me. I sent him the same look, not willing to back down.

"What really happened? What caused that to happen? I _know _you didn't do it on purpose, and had a good cause. You're not that kind of person, I know it-" I broke off with a gasp of pain as he threw me aside from the door, the angry glance intensifying as he opened the door, his emerald eyes never leaving me once.

"Don't act like you know me. What I did is my concern alone, and I would suggest you leave it at that if you don't want to end up like the rest." With that final statement he strode out the door, slamming it behind him and leaving me breathless as I stared after him, with more questions than answers.

* * *

And that is the end. Finally. Anyone catch any references to the previous chapters? I know I put at least one in there. Like I said, thanks for reading it after such a while, and sorry for those of you who were disappointed with this chapter. Next one will be better, I promise!

Also, kudos to blood-as-soft-as-silk and Faerie Dreaming for guessing right on my question! See you guys next time!


	8. Fear

Hey everyone! Um, I apologize for the lateness of this. Between graduating high school, having my grandma over, and nearly having cancer, I've been a bit busy as of late. But! I have the next three chapters planned out, so I should be able to get those out quickly. Unless I end up moving to Minnesota, in which case that'd probably cause yet another hiatus.

Enough of that, though! Thanks to anyone who managed to stick with this story through the months that I didn't update!

* * *

It took me several seconds to gather up the courage to follow the redhead and go back downstairs, hesitating right before walking down the steps. As I made my way back into the room, I could hear the other's voices drifting into my ear and I paused, listening for what Axel would say about me pulling him aside.

"… Just a misunderstanding, that's all," He was saying, his voice nonchalant. I bit my lip as he continued, "Make sure to give Roxas the cloak, okay?"

"You still haven't explained why you're giving them to us, or what they're even for," Zexion interjected, stopping him immediately. Axel sighed, his tone changing quickly. This time it was easy to tell the ire twisting it.

"Roxas, come on. I know you're there." I winced, then came around the corner, refusing to look Axel in the eyes. Instead of being forced to, a black mass of… something was thrown at my face, and I caught it before it hit the ground, blinking in surprise.

"What is it?" I asked, twisting it around in my hands. Finally it formed a dress-like coat with a hood, and I made an 'oh' of understanding, Axel's words making sense. The more I looked at it, the less it looked like a dress and the more it looked like a cloak, which was what he had been talking about. It was pitch black, with drawstrings around the hood and a double zipper, the bottom one only coming down to the knees so leg movement wouldn't be inhibited.

"If you guys go out at any time, wear those." I glanced back up at Axel, who was looking everywhere but at me. "They've been around me long enough that they stop anyone or anything from being able to track you."

"Track?" I echoed, confused. I didn't mean for it to sound as stupid as it obviously did, but I honestly had no clue what they meant. Track, as in bug the person? Or track, as in they had a skill they used to follow people?

Zexion sighed. "Heartless, along with certain people like us are able to track a person by trailing the traces of self every person leaves. Every one is different, so-" He was cut off by the front door opening, and a smooth, sexy voice echoing through that always made me weak at the knees.

_ Riku._

"Zexion, I'm home-" He stopped as he looked at us in the living room. It must have seemed kind of strange, a huge crowd of people standing in his living room- company of his antisocial brother. How could I have forgotten that they were related? Suddenly, I was very happy that Sora had made me wear feminine clothes, because otherwise that'd cause one big problem. _Had he figured that this would happen? _Somehow, that didn't seem very Sora-like- he barely manages to think further than the next meal he's going to eat.

"Nice to see you, Riku," Zexion said smoothly, standing up. "I know you know Roxanne, but I don't believe I've introduced you to her twin or my other friend," At the 'friend' part, both Axel's and Zexion's lip curled, at the same time ironically. Shaking it off, Zexion beckoned Sora over. "This is Sora, which, if you couldn't tell by what I said before, is Roxanne's twin. The other one is Axel, someone I met at school."

He sounded surprisingly… hostile, and I blinked in confusion as Sora gave Riku a wave, and Riku nodded back, glancing between the two of us. "You guys do look a lot alike," he noted, eliciting a snort from Axel.

"What do you expect? They're _twins_. Of course they look alike." Riku leveled an annoyed glance at the sarcastic redhead, rolling his eyes, but ignoring him.

"Zexion, I won't be here long, so pass a message along to Mom when she gets home that I should be back home in time for dinner." He sent me an apologetic look. "Maybe I'll see you guys around sometime?"

For some reason, it felt like he was talking to me, and only me- maybe because his gaze hadn't left mine. "Y-yeah," I finally replied, unable to make the noise sound firm.

"So why did you come back, Riku? When you told me you were going to be gone, I wasn't expecting you to be coming back so quickly." That explained why Zexion had invited us over despite it being Riku's house as well; he had thought that Riku would be gone the whole day. Smart, but apparently ineffective.

Riku shifted, and suddenly I noticed the plastic shopping bag in his left hand. How did I miss that before? "I just have some stuff to drop off in my room. I'm holding everyone up, though, so I need to get going." Without another word, he ran up the stairs, and I found myself wondering if it would be possible to sneak into his room before my mind cleared. It was funny, how much my mind fogged up whenever Riku was around.

Or, it would be funny, except for when it makes me sound like an idiot because I can't speak properly.

"So… that was Riku?" I turned to Sora, and suddenly, it hit me. While I had explained to Sora what Riku looked like, he hadn't seen him before now.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's him." I didn't elaborate as there were more thumps, a telltale sign that Riku was coming back downstairs. He jumped the last three steps, landing perfectly at the bottom before giving us a grin and dashing out the door.

For a few seconds, there was silence as I watched Riku jump into a car filled with some people that I saw him hanging out with at school. Finally, I relaxed when the car drove off, but I couldn't help the small ache of disappointment that curled up in my stomach.

Then, "It all makes so much sense, now."

I turned to Sora, rolling my eyes as I felt the smallest hint of a blush creep onto my face. "We are not talking about this right now." Then I looked down, and frowned. "We must have looked kind of odd, holding these cloaks. I know it would look odd to me, at least."

"Nope, I was too distracting."Somehow, Demyx's voice sounded a bit… off. Like there was a wall between him and me. His head, covered by a hood, poked up from behind the couch, and there was no explanation needed as he grinned sheepishly. "I threw myself back here, and he was too weirded out to say anything. Awesome, right?"

Zexion shook his head, still frowning slightly. "Demyx, why didn't you tell me that he was going to come in?"

Demyx blinked, and then his lips turned downwards. "I don't know. I guess that I wasn't able to focus on it. Maybe he just changed his mind and decided to come here right as he was heading by?" He thought about it. "Or maybe we just didn't need to know. That's happened before."

A barking laugh broke out of Axel. "Well, it certainly would have been _nice _to know."

"Hey, I don't see you volunteering any information," Demyx shot back, looking much more hostile than I was used to seeing him, "Or are you telling me that you don't have any gift along those lines?"

Axel glared at the blond. "As a matter of fact, I don't, so watch it." He didn't get a chance to say any more as Zexion stepped in, shaking his head.

"That's enough. I am aware that you two naturally don't get along, but that shouldn't mean that it should affect the rest of us." Demyx nodded slowly, and jumped back over the couch, settling down on the seat. The redhead seemed more reluctant to follow what Zexion said, but he too sat down- further away, on the single seat, I noted.

"So, where do you guys come in?" I glanced at Sora, who had a contemplative frown on his face. Both Demyx and Axel seemed openly surprised by his question, while Zexion just… well, didn't look confused, but when does he ever?

"Pardon?"

"I mean…" Sora paused, thinking over his question. I guess I was a little surprised that he was asking anything in general- I had kind of thought that he already knew what was going on. It made me feel a bit better to know that he was in the dark as well, though. "The legend only had us four as main people- were you guys the 'group' that they had found?"

I nodded slowly, realizing that I had been wondering the same thing. "And why was it reversed this time, with you finding us instead of us finding you?"

Zexion shook his head. "I cannot say. All I know is that Demyx found me, and he was the one who knew everything about our situation."

Everyone turned towards Demyx, the same idea written across our faces; _he's _the one who knew everything? In response, Demyx crossed his arms defensively, huffing lightly. "Not cool, you guys. Just because you're such emo balls of _darkness_ doesn't mean that I have to be dumb." I had to stifle a laugh at his wording, and it looked like Sora had to as well.

"You certainly act it at times," Axel muttered, eliciting a frown from Demyx.

"Not cool," he repeated, sinking further into the couch. Zexion shook his head and sat down next to him, patting his hand lightly.

"It is all right, Demyx." He then glanced to the rest of us. "I want you three to go to the library, and see if there are any more books on the legend. Demyx and I are going out of town today, and we will check the bookstore in the area that we will be in."

Axel's nostrils flared, and I had to hold back a snicker at how it looked. It was obvious that he was not happy with that plan. "Isn't two enough for that idea?"

A shake of the head from Zexion. "It would be much easier with three, considering how the library is. Otherwise, you could think of it as time in which you can get to know each other, since we are going to be a group for quite a while." Axel frowned at that, still displeased.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" The silence that followed said enough to Axel, and he snorted, crossing his arms. "Of course. Stuck with babysitting. Man, do I feel under appreciated."

"Hey!" Sora sent a petulant pout towards the redhead, "It's not babysitting- unless you count babysitting Roxas- it's friend-making!" He grinned cheesily, and I rolled my eyes.

"Sora, Mom won't even let you stay home alone unless I'm there or unless it's completely unavoidable. I don't think I'm the one that needs to be babysat."

Demyx snickered, but managed to look sympathetic. "It's okay, So-So, Zexy's mom won't let me stay here unless Zexion's here- I can't even stay here with Riku!" He paused contemplatively. "Not that I would want to. But still, man, I share your woes."

An understanding nod, and Sora seemed to be commiserating with the blond on the couch. _Must have been the 'shared woes' part. _"That's rough, man. That's rough."

A noise to the side alerted me that Axel was moving, and I turned to glance at him. His eyes met mine, then flickered away, his brows furrowing. I frowned. _I guess he's still angry about me confronting him. I can't really blame him, but… _"We should get going," I said shortly, "I don't want to have to spend all day at the library."

To my surprise, Axel nodded in agreement. "If we find anything, I'll either have Blondie here write it down, or I'll check out the book. Sound good?"  
A nod. "Or you could just call my cellphone as soon as you are done, and then present the information once I see you at school. Whichever is more to your liking."

With that, I grabbed Sora's hand and dragged him to the door, letting Sora wave before walking out. "We'll see you guys later, then," I called back, already beginning to head to the library. The library was a place that I always went to, so I knew the way there from… well, pretty much anywhere.

Sora started skipping, darting a few feet ahead of me. I rolled my eyes but smiled at him, continuing my slower, easier pace. Just because he had a ton of energy didn't mean that I had to spend mine just to keep up with him.

"You have issues with just saying 'bye', don't you," I heard a voice drawl from behind me. Turning, I ignored the question as I stared at Axel's slightly amused expression.

"I thought you were mad at me," I stated, deadpan. Axel merely shrugged, putting his hands in his pocket and a grin on his face.

"Why make this little trip any more difficult on any of us?"

Thinking about that, I shrugged and looked back to Sora, who was completely oblivious to the two of us talking. "I think it would only be hard on us. Sora couldn't see conflict unless it involved choosing between cookies or cake."

Axel laughed. "No kidding. Although, for as long as I've known the kid, he's never turned down the chance to get both."

That jogged my memory. "I forgot that you two knew each other before you came to this school. How much do you know about him?"

"A little here, a little there. We didn't talk too much, so don't worry." From the tone of his voice, I could all but see him shrugging. I let it go, and we walked the rest of the way in silence, save for Sora's nonstop humming. I almost felt relieved when I saw the big building come up, and Sora cheered.

"Come on, slowpokes, let's go!"

With that, he darted inside, and I laughed, not bothering to speed up as I walked in the entrance. Hesitating, I spun and held open the door for Axel, who looked surprised, but didn't ask as he walked through. Then, right before he passed me, he leaned down slightly, and I froze as his face brushed my cheek slightly. His breath tickled my ear, and he murmured, "Women don't hold doors open for men. Might want to read up on female etiquette."

He withdrew, and I was unable to stop myself from flushing brightly before I punched him lightly in the gut. "It's called manners, moron. Universal for everyone," I muttered, letting go of the door. I didn't wait for him to respond before moving to the computers, selecting the one next to the one that Sora picked. "Smart. Using the online catalog to see if there's something before we look through the entire place?"

Sora blinked up at me before a brilliant grin flew onto his face. "That's an awesome idea! I was honestly just gonna go to some random website, but that's a lot more useful! Way to go, Roxas!" Inwardly, I groaned and stood up, moving to where I knew the myths section to be. To my initial surprise, I heard someone follow, and I knew for a fact that it wouldn't be Sora.

"So, where're we headed?" Axel asked, keeping pace with me easily as he made it to my side. I glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow.

"The myth section. I thought that was what we were looking for, and there's no point in looking in any other section."

The redhead nodded, his eyes flickering to all the walls of the library as we worked our way to the stairs to the second level. "I don't remember much about the library, just where it was at. Don't blame me if I get lost in here, 'kay?" I hid a smirk.

"I'd pay to see you get lost in here-"

I let out a surprised shriek as my foot caught on the first stair on the staircase that I hadn't even realized that we reached. Before I could even attempt to catch myself, I felt a hand grab my shoulder and throw me backwards. Wincing, I prepared myself to fall on my ass instead of busting my face, and was shocked when the impact didn't come. Instead, I was caught by two spindly arms, and I felt the one who had caught me grunt as his back collided with the bookcase behind us.

"… Are you okay?" I blinked in surprise as I recognized the voice. Axel.

"Y-yeah, sorry." Attempting to get up, I frowned as I realized that Axel's arms weren't moving. "Um, Axel, you can let go. I'm fine, seriously."

Silence. I fidgeted nervously, wondering if he had seriously gotten hurt, before he said quietly, "You need to be more careful." With that, he let me go, and I blinked in surprise, watching as he made his way around me to walk up the stairs, not even offering an explanation.

I sighed. _This is going to be the death of me._

_

* * *

_

Two hours later, Sora had managed to lose all 47 games of Spider Solitaire he had played, and neither me or Axel had found a single book about the legend. Finally giving up, we congregated outside of the library, against one of the brick walls that framed the library's walkway. Sora, of course, was hopping around in circles next to me, almost making me wonder whether or not he needed to go to the bathroom, while Axel was pulling out his cellphone, due to his picking the smallest rock. None of us had really wanted to call, and we didn't have straws, so it was the next best thing.

Axel deftly dialed Zexion's number, putting the phone up to his ear. Despite it being a smaller phone, it was still loud enough for me to hear as it rang twice, and then was picked up with a perky chirp.

_"Hi, Demyx speaking-"_

Without another word, Axel closed the phone, effectively hanging up on the blond. I blinked in confusion as he dialed again, muttering to himself under his breath. This time, the phone only rang once before being answered, the voice not changing at all.

_"Hi, Demyx still speaking!"_

With another growl, Axel flipped the phone shut. "God damn, what's the point of having a cellphone if you give it to someone else to answer?"

This time, when he called, it was answered by a much calmer voice. _"I hope you realize that Demyx is never going to catch on to the fact that you are purposely hanging up on him. You could have just asked for me, you know."_

Axel grinned toothily, his mood changing abruptly. "Hey, I got to the person I wanted to talk to, right? That's all that matters."

_"Don't make me give you back to Demyx."_

The redhead leaned back against the wall, taking on a mock-hurt tone. "Aw, baby, I'm crushed. The idea that you wouldn't want to talk to me just makes me wanna break down and _cry._" While I successfully smothered the snicker I could feel bubbling up, Sora wasn't so lucky, and a small chortle was heard before he yelped as his shoe caught on fire. He stomped it out quickly, and I saw Axel's lip curl up lightly as he watched Sora's little dance. Seriously, did any of them remember that we were in public?

_"Just be quiet. Did you find anything of use?" _The grin dropped from Axel's face.

"Nothing whatsoever. You guys have any luck?"

_"No, we did not." _I could actually hear the disappointment in his words. _"I have to say, I was expecting to find at least one book, but we didn't even manage to find a reference to the legend. Demyx even asked the librarian. Nothing."_

"Gotcha. The kids and I are going to keep looking, all right? We'll call when we find something."

With that, Axel snapped the phone shut, and Sora was finally able to put the flame out. Sighing, he looked up to the rehead, tilting his head in confusion as he managed to completely forget that he was the one who set his sneaker on fire in the first place. "When we find something? How can you be so sure that we're going to find anything on this legend?" He asked.

"You found out about it, didn't you?" Axel responded, pushing himself off the wall.

Sora nodded, not convinced. "Yeah, but I had a dream about it, and you're the one that confirmed it. I've never found a book that says anything about the legend."

That got me thinking. "How _did _everyone know about that anyways? I'd never even heard about it before Zexion told me. How did they know?"

Axel laughed slightly, startling me. "Of course you wouldn't know. You're _dark. _It's kind of… tradition for the dark twin to be kept in the dark. As for how they knew, well…" He shrugged. "Demyx is a reservoir of information."

_Well, that's the least useful explanation you've ever given me, _I thought irritably. "What about you? How did you know?"

"Why don't you just wait, and then I'll show you, shorty," He teased me. Then he began walking, away from the library. Both Sora and I had to jog to keep up with him, unlike before. He must have been purposely been being slow in order to make it easier on us. Too bad we don't get that luxury any more.

"Where are we going?" Sora and I asked at the same time, barely managing to stay by his side. He gave the two of us a surprised look, caught off guard, and he laughed again.

"_Damn _you two are creepy when you do that. You'll see when we get there, alrigh'?"

Unable to argue with him, we followed his footsteps as he led us further into the city before darting down a street that I couldn't remember ever being on, not even pausing as he wound his way through the city. _It's like he knows it better than I do._

"Rox, where are we?" Sora asked quietly, nudging me with his elbow. Unable to provide a response that would be of use, I merely shrugged as Axel snapped his fingers, drawing attention back to him. Only then did I realize that the street had shops that almost looked like houses lining each side, though nothing there looked new. Some seemed to be breaking apart, while others were just… ancient, like they'd been standing there forever.

Axel jumped onto the porch of one of the older, better kept shops and darted inside the open door. We, however, stopped outside of it, and I felt Sora squeeze the hand that I hadn't even known that he grabbed. I don't know what exactly intimidated me about the shop; maybe it was the many pendants that were dangling in the window, the slight haze of smoke drifting around inside, or maybe the random trinkets in the windowsill, holding up or being held up by books. There were shiny stones, decks with beautiful pictures drawn on them, even- here, I shuddered- what looked to be shrunken heads in little jars. Even if that wasn't what was in there, it was enough to stop me in my tracks.

"Come on guys, don't have all day!" Axel's voice called from within the building. Surprisingly, he sounded happy- happier than he was the whole time he was with us, at least.

Steeling myself, I nodded to Sora, and we walked up the steps together. Intricate etches adorning the wood of the porch caught my eyes before we walked inside. Almost immediately, I inhaled the smoke and was caught up in a coughing fit, and to my side, it seemed that Sora was having the same problem as the scent of something indescribable mixed with the smoke permeated the air.

"Oh ho, my favorite students!" A familiar voice echoed through the room, and despite my coughing, I recognized it in an instant.

"Reno…?"

I yelped in surprise as a body dropped from above, landing in an almost feline manner before straightening up. A shock of red hair paired with blue eyes confirmed my suspicions as his mouth drew up into a grin. "Welcome, lady and gentleman, to Flynn Books and random stuff we have yet to give a proper name to." Then, he took notice of the fact that while my coughing had subsided, Sora's had gotten worse with Reno's drop, and his brows creased in concern. "Hey, little man, don't die on me! Axel-"

"Already got it." Turning slightly, I saw that Axel had appeared next to me, holding a glass of water. He handed it to Sora, who nodded gratefully before gulping the entire thing down. Finally, he pulled the glass from his lips with a gasp, and Axel took the cup from him.

"Thanks," Sora croaked.

"No problem," Axel replied, taking the glass over to the place he presumably got it from. "I wouldn't want to have to clean you off the floor anyways."

"He's only being chivalrous because he's the one that has to take care of people if they react badly to this place." Reno then frowned at Sora. "Honestly didn't expect that reaction from you though."

Sora shook his head, his eyes still a bit watery. "No, dude, it wasn't the smoke that time. I choked on my spit when you jumped down 'cause I freaked."

There was a long pause before both Reno and Axel burst out laughing, and I shook my head to hide my own amusement. "We've had some people faint from the smoke, but I have to admit, no one's really had problems with _Reno."_

Sora frowned, blushing brightly. "It's not my fault that I'm easily surprised… Besides, it's not like you've ever nearly squished someone by falling from the ceiling before."

Reno seemed contemplative about that, tapping his finger on his chin thoughtfully. _He actually looks like he has no clue! _That was a scary, scary thought. "That depends. Does my brother count as a person?"

Before we could answer, Axel bopped him on the head, and then ducked as Reno tried to hit him back, making Reno almost trip over the top of him. "Of course I count as a person. If it wasn't my general charm, then it's my dazzling good looks. Right, Roxanne?" He winked at me, and I scowled.

"Not on your life." _Why is he so damn _happy? I wondered as he pouted. Quickly, before he could argue, I waved my hand around the room. "What is this smoke anyways? It smells weird."

A surprised blink from Reno. "What, don't tell me you don't know what incense is?" A glance to Sora, and we slowly shook our heads. "Well… that's weird." He frowned thoughtfully at us. "You're both weird."

I rolled my eyes, and Axel sighed. "He sucks at making sales, if you haven't noticed. It's basically a stick made of aromatic plant materials, and it gives off the scent when burned. Mom absolutely loves it, so it's not often that we don't have at least a slight cloud in here." I 'oh'ed in understanding, and Reno nodded.

"Yeah, so don't worry if you thought it was real smoke or something. There'd never be a fire in here." Axel's face hardened for a second when Reno paused. "Mostly because Mom absolutely hates fire, so she prepares for it in whatever way possible."

I held back a flinch at the thought. Axel _was _fire, and according to my vision, it'd been like that ever since he was a kid. If his mom ever found out….

"You call it preparation, I call it paranoia," Axel said in an almost teasing manner, shoving his brother lightly. Reno laughed and shoved back, making it obvious that this kind of banter was normal between the two.

"Yep! It's probably bad for the books, but, whatever right?" He shrugged, and I tilted my head in confusion. _Books…?_

This time, I gazed around the room, and realized that it was, in fact, completely covered in books. Some were even stacked on the floor, where there was no room for shelves. In the places that there weren't books, there were bowls with ordinate designs all over them, filled with water. Honestly, I was shocked that there was room for _us_ in there. Before I could look at anything else, my attention was brought back to the two redheads as one of them started speaking. "I'll be right back, 'kay guys? Bathroom break time!"

Oh. Wait. That was Axel. I really should start paying more attention. He started walking away, but as soon as he was out of Reno's line of view he mouthed, "_Keep him occupied." _Before I could argue, he darted down one of the many rows of books, disappearing from view.

_Keep him occupied? _"What are those things in the jars in the front window?" I asked, turning and pointing to them. As much as I may hate listening to orders, I had a feeling that he was looking for something in here, and hopefully, that something is going to help us.

As soon as Reno saw what I was pointing at, he laughed. "Ah, yeah, those. To be honest… We don't know."

"Really?" Sora's eyes widened in surprise as he glanced between the jars and Reno. "They look kinda like mutant little _heads _in there!"

"Ah, yeah, we get that a lot." Reno scratched the back of his head, staring at the jars intensely. "However, because of the way my brother situated them, we can't take them out." I blinked in confusion, and he elaborated, "If we move the jars, then all the books fall down and possibly get damaged. But then, if we move the books, the jars would fall and break, since they're made of brittle glass, and whatever is inside of that little container…" He walked forward and tapped on it lightly. "… Would spill all over Mom's precious books. Which is a huge no-no."

"Well, can't you just… cover them?" Sora asked nervously. Reno blinked, glancing down at them, and I could see the gears in his mind working.

"Why did we never think of that-" He started to wonder before a loud angry voice interrupted him.

_"AXEL THEODORE FLYNN!"_

"Sorry Mom!" I faintly heard him call to the back of the store before he appeared in front of us, pausing only momentarily to look at us, then say, "Run."

With that, he dashed out, and Sora and I didn't even think twice before chasing after him, both of us calling out, "See you at school, Reno!"

If he responded, we didn't know, as we were too busy following the rapidly fleeing redhead. It was almost impossible to keep up, but we managed, matching one of his strides with two of our own. It was only when we made it to the library once more that he stopped, a full halt that made first me run into him, and then Sora run into me, toppling us all to the ground in one big pile.

"Uugh…" Axel groaned from beneath us, "You two are heavy as hell…" I glared, but put an arm on each side of Axel's body before pushing up, managing to free Sora from our little pile. Sora immediately rolled to the side and with a thump, he was on the ground. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he wasn't going to bother with getting up. This was common between Sora and I, so we had a little system of getting out of it. Unfortunately, Axel being there messed it all up, and he rolled over to face me before giving me a grin.

"Thanks, sweetheart, was nice of you to get all of the weight off of me-" Another grunt forced his way out of him as I moved to a sitting position on top of him.

"I was going to be nice and get off, but since you're being annoying…" I stopped when I saw his arms wrapped protectively around something. A closer look showed that it was an old tome, what was once probably a forest green was now highly faded, with golden detailing that had withstood the test of time a bit better, but only barely. My eyebrows creased, and I went to take it from him. His arms unfolded willingly, and I picked it up, making sure to be cautious before opening it.

"This is where I first read about the legend," Axel told us, putting his hands behind his head and settling down. "It's my mom's favorite book, so be careful with it."

I 'hm'ed in agreement, sifting through the pages delicately. There were designs upon designs, all hand drawn- some even seemed as if they were drawn into just the book, instead of being typed in there. Then I looked at the words, and my eyes widened. "This is all handwritten…" I murmured, drifting my hand over the page. Axel nodded, not taking his gaze off the book.

"It my mom's favorite for a reason. The legend is in there, somewhere in the middle. I'm going to get yelled at when I get home, but you should take it back to your house for the night and read it."

I nodded slowly, mesmerized by the pages, and to my side, Sora asked, "What about you? You going to get in trouble?"

A shake of the head. "I'm hoping not. I'll just give some excuse and say that I'll return it as soon as I'm done with it. Besides, it's important that you guys get this information. If anything, maybe you can find something that I missed."

I closed the book and got up, stepping over Axel and offering him the hand that wasn't holding the book tightly to my body. He took it and pulled himself up, brushing himself off. "So why didn't we grab this book in the first place? Just because your mom wouldn't want you to take it?" He nodded, and I accepted it. After all, if his mom was the one that was calling through the shop, then I wouldn't want to make her angry either.

"I'm going to call Zexion, you guys head home, okay?" Pulling out the phone, he stared at it disdainfully before dialing the number. Sora got up, and he waved bye to him as we left, walking down the sidewalk.

"He's a lot nicer when he's in his own place, isn't he?"

Sora looked surprised by my statement. "I guess so, huh? Not exactly what I was expecting, but…" He laughed, stretching his arms out behind him. "You're not complaining, right?"

My mind drifted back to the library, and I glanced behind me, watching as Axel snapped the phone shut. It was obvious that he was glaring at it, even with our distance away, and I couldn't stop my lips from curving up slightly. "Nope. Not complaining at all."

* * *

Later that night found me in my room, flipping through the book that Axel had given me. Sora had fallen asleep a while ago after messing with the cloaks from Axel, which were now hanging up neatly in our closet after we had to fetch them. Despite there being school tomorrow, I couldn't find it in me to fall asleep, not when the book was just sitting there. I had found out that the tome was seemingly written from the point of view of one of the Users (the term that they used for the 'magically inclined') that accompanied the twins. A fire User, ironically- if it was his mother's favorite book, then how could she hate fire so much?

The first half was almost a diary, comprising of the time from when the User found his 'gift' to when he left the town he grew up in- though it felt more like exile, from his description.

_I left Sunset this morning. I don't remember the last time I was accepted into anything in the village, so it was better off for me to just… leave. Forget about the life I had here. I'm not going to pretend that I'm not upset about it, but I'm smart enough to know when it's better to swallow that anger. Staying there wouldn't help anyone, not even me._

I felt my lips twist into a frown at that. Even if it was just a story, the idea of that was horrible. No one deserved to be shut out of their community. "How is this even in English…?" I wondered out loud, flipping to the front. There was no dates in the book, even in the front of the cover, so there was no telling how old it was. For all I knew, it was made only a year ago and somehow aged. Something at the back of my mind told me otherwise, but the fact was still there- there was no telling when it was made.

"Sora, you should read this." The only sign that my brother heard me was the tell-tale crinkle of his sheets as he rolled over.

"And you should get some sleep. I mean, it's two in the morning, and we have school tomorrow," Sora's sleepy voice drifted over. He managed to stop the pillow talk that he was notorious for, and I was actually able to just understand him without having to decipher his words. He probably hadn't been able to sleep properly while I was reading.

I sighed, closing the book. Even if I wasn't against depriving myself of sleep, I couldn't do the same to Sora. Placing the book on my bedside lamp, I muttered a guilty, "Sorry…." before turning off the light, quickly dozing off into a light sleep. I didn't have a clue that anything could go wrong in just that night.

* * *

_A dark figure drifted through the alleyway, his head turning nervously from side to side. It took me a few seconds to recognize the lanky male to be Demyx, his head covered by a cloak that Axel had supplied for us. Swiftly, he turned and made his way down the street, his fingers moving anxiously, as if wishing to be holding something to protect himself. He and I both jumped when two rapid beeps made their way through the air, then Demyx laughed, more in the nervous manner as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a slim black cell-phone and flipping it open, putting it up to his ear._

"Zexy! It's only 3:17, so I'm only a little late. I wasn't expecting you to call-" _He frowned and stopped, listening intently as Zexion spoke rapidly, too quiet for me to make out the words. However, I could tell the tone; Zexion, for the first time since I met him, was frantic. Finally, Zexion stopped, and Demyx threw another look around the street, the frown still apparent. _"I'm on 54th Street, little more than a block away. I'm even wearing the cloak-" _Abruptly he stopped again, his gaze resting on another alley warily. Slowly, his other hand drifted to his side, and water drifted up from the ground into his palm while he continued, _"Hey Zex. Do you think that it's possible for someone who can see the future to be caught off guard? Just curiosity."

_ More rapid sounds from the phone, more and more agitated than before. Demyx sighed, his eyes closing for a few seconds. Then they snapped open, his hand wrapping around the ball the water had created. _"I thought I'd make sure… Heh, so much for that theory, huh?"_ More talking, but this time Demyx hushed him, concentrating on the white blur I could now see walking towards him, in the awkward stride that even after one time I knew to be theirs. _"Zex, I'm going to be fine after everything, I promise. Just make sure, that if this doesn't turn out right…" _Demyx swallowed, his nonchalant voice a facade for Zexion's sake._

"Make sure you find me."

_ He didn't have time to say anything else as the Nobodies pounced. The phone dropped to the ground as the alarmed voice yelled out to the blonde boy who was no longer listening._

_Ring, ring-_

I picked up the phone within seconds, sweat pouring down my face as I took a quick glance at the clock._ 3:23._ Zexion had taken six minutes to calm down enough to call. "Zexion, what's going on?" I managed to ask, gasping for air. It seemed that I wasn't the only one having problems, as the voice on the other line was shaky, as if they had been running or were having troubles breathing. For a few seconds there was nothing but garbled noise, like Zexion couldn't speak, but finally I could hear a few deep breaths as he forced himself to talk.

"Roxas… They took Demyx. The Nobodies took Demyx!"


	9. Searching

You know what I said about updating more? I lied. I just found out this week that I am, in fact, moving to Minnesota in a month. I'm currently in Oregon, so we're scrambling to get everything prepared. I will probably update a ton, or not at all in the next month or two. I'm very sorry if I didn't respond to someone's review, but I'm kind of frazzled and everything, so I hope you guys can forgive me. (Also, just a quick thing to to Blood As Soft As Silk- I hope you're feeling a lot better!)

This chapter is unbeta'd, and probably crap. But, I'm posting it anyways. Next chapter is already in the works. Also! I recently started a livejournal for all of my writing needs- WickedIvory. Go ahead and check me out! I'll have updates on AISWAC, along with random things that pertain to writing. I already put up some things concerning AISWAC, so… I ramble. But, whatever. Go ahead and friend me- I'd love to see you guys there!

Disclaimer: _I am not a whore. I am not a whore. I am not a whore. But I like to- _SUE FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. (Please don't sue me?)

* * *

Zexion's voice shook more as my eyes widened and the phone dropped from my fingers. Hastily I picked it back up, speaking into it as calmly as I could. "We'll be over in a few seconds. I promise. Stay at your house until we get there! Call Axel, he should be able to help." I didn't allow him to respond as I hung up the phone, placing it on the table next to me. Flying out of the bed, I raced over to Sora, shaking him rapidly.

"Sora! Wake up! Demyx is gone!" Sora jolted up with a gasp, any normal morning-time lethargy disappearing at the mention of Demyx being in trouble. As he jumped out of his covers I darted around the room, throwing the two cloaks Demyx gave us at the beginning of the week onto his bed, snatching up mine as an afterthought and pulling it on. With my black pajama pants, there was no point in putting anything else on, and Sora deemed the same of his own. With a nod, we rushed out of our bedroom, Sora going towards the door while I went into the kitchen and scrawled a note onto a piece of paper for our mom to get when she finally woke up.

With that, I rushed out behind Sora, who had already began his way to Zexion's house. We were lucky that we had gone there yesterday; there really wasn't enough time for there to be doubt on where we were going. Surprisingly, it felt like it was only seconds spent running down the road- I was concentrating too hard to notice anything else around me, and I knew for a fact that it was the same for Sora.

When we saw the blue house, we stopped right before the door, hesitating. Were we supposed to knock on it? Luckily, we weren't left out there for that long before it swung open, revealing not Zexion, who I had been expecting, but instead Larxene, who, for once, was frowning. Despite the late hour, she seemed as well groomed as always

"Good. You guys are here. Get in, now." She moved out of the way, and we walked in, watching as she closed the door behind her. "Axel is on his way, Marluxia is trying to find your blond friend, and Zexion is in his room, upstairs." She intoned, jerking her head towards the general direction. Then she opened the door again, revealing Axel. "Or, he was on his way. Get in, asshole."

Axel grinned, the action not hiding the exhaustion that was apparent on his face. "Thanks, bitch. Nice to see you too." Nonetheless, he was inside in seconds, and I was shocked by how haggard he appeared. His red hair was askew, and like Sora and I, he hadn't even changed out of his pajamas, a ragged wife beater and black flannel bottoms. Noticing us, he nodded in greeting. "You two got here quick."

"Zexion called us before he called you," Sora replied, looking around nervously. "… Are we sure this is the best place to talk? I mean, what happens if Zexion's mom or Riku wake up and see us here?"

Silence met his question as I glanced up at Axel, who in turn shrugged. Obviously none of that was even thought of when Zexion called us. "We could claim that we were going to have a sexy party," Axel offered. I rolled my eyes, and Larxene did the same.

"Sorry sweetheart, all possibilities of that flew out the window when you came in." Axel sighed, sending her a pleasant smile.

"Lark, my sunshine, the reason to my life, you are one of the most wonderful people I know. Now please get out." Larxene laughed and walked out the door, giving us a backhand wave before Axel shut the door, heading up the stairs without another word to us.

Following him, we tried our best to keep silent as we found Zexion's room. He had left the door open, so it was obvious that he was expecting us. However, I definitely wasn't expecting him to be reacting in the way that he was. When we entered the room, he was pacing and muttering under his breath, occasionally throwing something if it was in his way.

Of course, his room was so empty that he had to go out of his way to have something to toss. It seemed that he did that whenever he could, and it was only when I closed the door softly behind me that he noticed us standing in his doorway. Eyes flickering over Sora and I, they finally landed on Axel before narrowing angrily.

_"You!"_ The blunette stalked up to the redhead, the action jagged and full of rage. "You said that no one could track him! You said he would be _safe_!" To my surprise, Zexion grabbed the front of Axel's shirt before turning him and slamming him against a wall. Despite the loud _thud _he made, it was apparent that there was little strength behind the action. Axel had purposely let him pin him, perhaps in an attempt to get the smaller teen to calm down.

"He _should _have been fine. I honestly can't tell you how they managed to get him." Zexion flinched and backed up slowly, taking his hands off of Axel. He let himself up, and Zexion looked away, his hands curling into fists. This time, when Axel continued, his voice was softer. "Marluxia and Larxene are already trying to track him. It shouldn't take long to find out where he is. For now, though, is there a better place for us to talk?"

Zexion looked up and blinked, as if only realizing that he might wake up his family. A few seconds passed, and he swallowed tightly, obviously struggling to get his emotions back under control. "M-my apologies. I do not know of anywhere else, but you are right. It would be much better to secure a different location, in case I wake up the other residents in the house."

"Glad that we're on the same page." Axel nodded to the two of us, getting our attention. "What about you guys? You've been here for a long time. Anywhere that we could go without getting in trouble?"

Mind churning, I began to shake my head, then stopped as I thought of one place. Sora apparently figured it out at the same time as I did, because he was talking before I was able to start. "Kairi and Namine's parents run a safe-house sort of thing for teens. We could gather there, collect those two while pretending to think that Demyx had gone there-"

Zexion flinched, and Sora stopped, so I continued where he left off. "And by then we could probably get a plan of some sort. Her parent's wouldn't ask, although…" I paused, "They might mention something to our parents."

Sora shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Right now, what's important is that we get Demyx back. We can deal with everything else later."

"How come you didn't mention the safe house before?" I blinked, surprised by Axel's question.

"It just… never came up, I guess," I replied. He shrugged, accepting the answer.

It seemed that Zexion had recovered enough that he was able to think normally, and he put his hand on his chin musingly. "How would you contact Larxene and Marluxia in order to tell them of our whereabouts, Axel? If they have information, we need them to be able to find us at any time."

Axel grinned, laughing slightly. "I have it covered, don't worry. What's the address of the safe house?" I needed a second, but I quickly rattled it off, and he nodded, the same grin still in place as he called quietly, "Larxene!"

For a second, there was silence, and I had to force myself not to laugh. Zexion had the same bemused expression that was probably on my face, and I could imagine that Sora hadn't figured it out either. Finally, Axel let out a soft, triumphant cry as a little yellow ball of sparks appeared in the air. I gasped as I recognized it- that was what I had appeared as when I first saw the trio. Funny, that the more outrageous things got, the more everything made sense.

"Larxene, we are going to be at Kairi and Namine's safe house, okay? As soon as you guys are done, or get any information, meet us there," Axel said quietly to the ball. Reciting the address, he seemed to be completely at ease now that everything had cooled down a bit. Without another word, the ball disappeared in a small burst of light, and Axel seemed satisfied. "There. We should head there now. Larxene and Marluxia will be able to find us without a problem."

Sora and I nodded, though Zexion seemed unimpressed. "You could have just used a cellphone."

Axel grinned. "And back comes the old Zexion. Also, actually, I couldn't. Larxene doesn't have a phone." Frowning, I opened my mouth to ask, but he cut me off, "Larxene short-circuits any electronic device that she comes in contact with- cell phones, TVs, projectors, you name it, she destroys it."

"So she uses electricity?" Sora asked, catching on. Inwardly, I rolled my eyes as I remembered the first time I saw her in action- she was literally shocking the Heartless. It would figure that Sora wouldn't catch on, even when she was so obvious with her power. She even managed to act like what you would expect the human embodiment of her element to be like.

"As much as I enjoy you enlightening us," Zexion irritably interrupted, all form of my thoughts disappearing, "We need to get out before my family realizes that you three are here."

It went without saying that he was right, and we nodded, heading to the end of his room. About to open his door, I hesitated, causing Sora to bump into me. "Hey, Roxas-" He whispered harshly. I cut him off with a 'shh', and heard what I thought I did before; footsteps.

Axel caught on immediately. "Window, now!" You could sense the urgency in his words, despite them being barely more than a breath, and no one could even argue. At least, until I realized that we were on the second floor.

"But-" Without another word, Axel picked me up and unceremoniously pushed me out, stopping any form of an argument. I landed with a _thump _on the roof below Zexion's window, and reflexively rolled to the side when I heard my brother follow, somehow managing to be less graceful than I was. We were lucky in that the roof wrapped around his house, making lots of vertical room, but there was barely any space in front of us, making it hard to look down without feeling sick.

"Not you, Zex," I heard Axel murmur before he slid out the window. With his long legs, he had no trouble just walking onto it, and I felt a twinge of jealousy. _Why can't I be freakishly tall? _"You have to convince whoever it is that you're fine."

The redhead didn't give him time to protest as he ducked down, sitting next to us. That was all the time we had as the door opened, and a sleepy voice broke through, "Zexion, I heard voices. Everything okay?"

Dear god, why did it always have to be Riku? "I cannot say why you would be hearing voices," Zexion replied. He actually sounded like he had just rolled out of bed, so much so that it actually convinced _me. _"Obviously I'm the only one here."

"Obviously." Riku didn't sound convinced, and I strained my ears to hear more. To my horror, I heard someone tread his way over to the window, which was still left precariously open._ Please don't look down…._ "Zexion, I didn't know you had taken a sudden liking to sleeping with your window open. Like the cold breeze?" Despite the teasing tone in his voice, my heart nearly stopped beating as he stopped directly in front of it.

"Actually, that was what woke me up. I guess I had fallen asleep before I was able to close it." Zexion murmured. I couldn't even sense a bit of urgency in voice, and luckily, neither could Riku, as he laughed before closing the window.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't get up. The other two seemed to think the same, although Sora shifted uncomfortably. Finally, the window swung open again about five minutes later, and Zexion poked his head out. "I would offer to let you guys come back in and go through the door, but I believe that Riku would hear you immediately. You are going to have to jump."

Axel grinned and stood up, startling me. "Well, if you say so." Without another word, he jumped down, rolling on the ground to make the impact easier. I scrambled to the side, only to see him looking back up at us with his hands out. "Tell Zexion to meet us down at the bottom, I can handle the shrimps."

I made a face and stuck my tongue out at him before turning to Zexion, who merely nodded. "I heard." With that, he disappeared, and I took a deep breath.

"I'll go first," I told Sora, steeling myself. To my surprise, he shook his head.

"Don't worry, Rox. I've got this." Before I could argue, he jumped, landing neatly beside Axel in a way I hadn't thought possible. He seemed so smooth, almost like it was only one foot he had dropped instead of ten. There wasn't even an apparent aftershock, as he just looked back up at me and gave me a thumbs up.

If there was one thing I wasn't good at, it was jumping. Heights, I have no problem with. It's the actual jumping I have issues with, whether it's getting psyched up to do it or going through the action of it. Seeing me hesitate, Sora opened his mouth to say something, but Axel beat him to it. "Come on, sweetheart, can't waste any time. I'll even catch you." He beckoned in what was supposed to be an inviting manner, a smirk sliding across his face, and I frowned.

"Don't make me hit you again." That was enough to encourage me. I lept and landed with a grunt, feeling a bit of pain from the less than graceful landing. Looking back up, I nodded to the other two before punching Axel in the stomach as an afterthought.

He laughed slightly before rubbing the afflicted area, not even fazed by it. "I thought you said 'don't make me hit you', not 'I'm going to hit you'."

"Obviously I changed my mind."

There wasn't any more time to talk as Zexion came out of his house, closing the door as quietly as possible. "Lead the way, Sora, Roxas," He said simply. He, too, was wearing the black cloak that Axel had given each of us, although it looked a bit big on him.

Which brought another thought to my mind. "How did you know what size we were when you gave us these?"

Axel seemed surprised by my question. "Well, I just needed to look at you. Shrimp," he pointed to Zexion, "Shrimpier," a point at Sora, "And shrimpiest."

It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that he was mocking me. I huffed. "Let's go."

The redhead's only response was a snicker.

* * *

The way to the safe house took a while, and winded through several different alleyways. The only reason I remembered how to get there was because Sora and I used to walk the girls there when we were younger. When their parents were busy at work, the best place for them was with the caretakers that worked there. We would never stay long, though; our own parents would pick us up from there before long. It was almost as if they were afraid that the kids who stayed there would taint us- we weren't worried, but they were.

I honestly was too absorbed with my thinking to pay any attention to where I was walking, so it was a surprise when something blurred in the side of my vision. Reacting quickly, I felt myself pull one of the many shadows out into a spike, stopping the thing that was rushing us to a halt. Heartless.

There was a shout of surprise from Sora, but a burst of flame that incinerated the Heartless in front of me showed that I was not the only one who had reflexively attacked. No more time was wasted as the creatures swarmed from every side, all but surrounding us.

"What happened to them not being able to track us…?" Zexion spoke through gritted teeth as we were forced back-to-back, all four of us facing one of the black walls. Axel sounded equally frustrated.

"This wasn't tracking. It couldn't have been! But then… how come there's so many?" There was that bit of confusion in all of our minds, but I shook my head, feeling the shadows seep into my open palm.

"We don't have time to wonder about that! What we have to worry about right now is getting rid of these guys!"

For once, I didn't hesitate as I jumped into the middle of the fray in front of me, the dark ball in my hand shifting. Instead of the simple blade I had conjured before, it twisted into something much more intricate, still retaining the longer appearance, but with several rods twining into the end before a part jutted out at the end. Almost like a key, if I looked at it right.

Hissing as one of the Heartless landed a swipe on my arm, I retaliated by swiping the blade to the side, hitting it as well as several others that were in my reach. This time they were barely stunned with one hit, unlike the first time I had fought them. Then, they had only taken one hit before dispersing into little shreds of darkness. _When did they get stronger?_

I didn't have any more time to think as instinct took over. I drilled out hit after hit, not even able to check on how the others were doing. I knew that Axel and Sora would be fine, but Zexion was probably having a more difficult time. After all, the only form of a weapon he had was his mind, which probably wouldn't help much when there was so many of the creatures. Then another thought tugged at my mind once more; where were they all coming from?

A quick glance around gave me nothing, and I didn't have time to look for longer than a second or two before my attention was taken back to the fight. That didn't stop me from trying again, and then, I saw something, and my eyes narrowed. _Silver? _Silver, and a cat's smirk. I edged my feet closer, trying to inspect it further-

"Watch it, Roxas!" Automatically, I ducked as a blur of white sliced over my head, where a Heartless had jumped up- probably to surprise me. I hissed in disappointment as whatever I saw disappeared, but shook my head, chasing the thought out of my mind. Then, I gave Sora a thumbs up as I straightened and slid behind him.

"Sora, have you seen Zexion? I don't know if he's going to be able to defend himself against so many." I punctuated the sentence with a stab that went through one of the shadows before it dispersed. At this point, I wasn't certain how much longer _we _could last. Despite the throng slowly going down, I could hear Sora's heavy breathing behind me, and I wasn't doing much better.

"Axel's with him. He should be fine, I think." Sora paused, then darted around me, making another Heartless disappear with a swing of the white blotch I had seen before. He glanced down at my own weapon, and frowned. "Yours changed too."

A slice down another Heartless's side. I nodded tensely, unable to look from what I was doing to confirm my suspicions. Sora's weapon had morphed as well, it seemed- without him meaning to change it, if I was right. At the moment, our swords didn't matter- all there was to focus on was the black mass in front of us.

Well, the black mass that was now rapidly disappearing. Flames appeared in front of my vision, causing me to jump back- half in surprise, half reflexively. Sora apparently had the same reaction as I did and managed to trip over my foot. Letting out a shriek of surprise, we tumbled into a little pile, dropping the blades in the process. At first, all I felt was Sora's weight on my stomach. Then I felt panic as I realized the vulnerable position that we had put ourselves in, and struggled to push Sora off of me.

"You're lucky that that was the last of them, you know," There was a drawl to my left, and when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, I lashed out at it with my fist, drawing out a yelp of pain. It was only then that I realized that the blob of black I had originally thought to be an enemy was actually Axel. He let me know his displeasure with a soft kick. "Hey, I'm already battered as it is. No need to beat me up."

"Sorry…" I muttered as Sora finally rolled off of me, getting up after a few seconds. I followed suit, wincing as I felt the injuries from the battle catching up to me. "Did we get them all, or…?"

"They retreated." Turning my head, I looked at Zexion. He seemed grim, but not too damaged. _Axel must have kept a good eye on him, _I figured as he leaned against a wall, shaking his head. "I do not understand why, though- normally when Heartless have the upper hand, they attack their target until it is dead. However, this time, it was different."

Frowning, I shook my head before spinning to face Sora. "Are you okay?"

He bobbed his head, although it was obvious that he was in a bit of pain, at the least. "Yeah. I think the cloak took most of the damage." Pursing my lips, I put my hand onto his own, watching as the gash I saw there healed up almost instantly. Sora blinked, surprised. "I didn't notice that one, though. Thanks Rox." I nodded, flashing him a smile before moving onto Axel.

"You took a bit of damage," I noticed, squashing any bit of panic I felt when I saw the numerous cuts on his body. He helped with that as soon as he sent me a smirk.

"Worried?"

"Hardly," I scoffed, getting to work on all of them. Luckily, he was quiet as I sealed up each of the wounds, although it took a little longer than I was expecting. With each cut, the next one took a few more seconds to finish up, and by the time I got to the last laceration, my hand was shaking.

I wasn't the only one who noticed. "Roxas-"

"I'm fine," I interrupted tersely, placing my hand on Axel's cheek. This time, Axel stopped me, grabbing my hand and putting it down to my side.

"Stop it. Check on Zexion. One little cut isn't going to kill me." I opened my mouth to argue, but shut it as I realized that he had the right idea. I wouldn't be of any use to them if I wore myself out getting all of the little scratches.

A quick check-over was all it took to see that Zexion was fine. There was only one gash that needed any attention, and I managed to work with the large bruise that covered his back as well when he got shoved into a wall by a Heartless that was thrown by Axel. It would figure that the only big injury would be because of the brash redhead.

"Roxas, come look at our weapons," Sora's voice drifted over. I frowned, facing him. While the first thoughts in my mind had been of whatever I saw in the crowd of Heartless, the blades quickly replaced them.

"You mean they're not gone?" A second look answered my question for me. To my surprise, Sora's had morphed into something similar to mine, with the lacing bars that almost looked like steel instead of the light and the darkness that Sora and I were working with respectively. Now that we weren't in the middle of fighting, I saw that they looked almost _exactly _like a key, not just similar to one.

"The Keyblades…" Axel breathed, walking up behind me. I glanced up at him.

"Is that what they're called?" My brow furrowed. "That's original."

"The black one is Oblivion, while the white one is Oathkeeper. They are the blades that the early warriors fought with," Zexion filled in, joining us. I nodded slowly in understanding, staring down at the two. They didn't seem like they belonged in a legend from so long ago, although there was no denying the regal air that surrounded them. I gasped as they disappeared in a flash of light, leaving nothing behind.

Then I shook my head, not allowing myself to marvel over it. "We have to get to the safe house. Right now, all that matters is grouping up to find Demyx, and since the safe house is close to Namine's house, that's all we need to focus on."

They nodded, and I swallowed any thoughts of mentioning what I saw after that. I wasn't even sure that what I saw was _real_ and if it distracted from finding Demyx any further, then there would be no use to mentioning it at all. There were no more distractions as we made our way there, although I slowly began to doubt our plan more and more. There was no chance that Demyx was at the safe house, and there was no way to know if Kairi and Namine would even help us. At this rate, it would just be better to look for Demyx instead of wasting time like this.

My thoughts came a bit too late as we arrived at the safe house, stopping in front of it. In the dark of the night, it looked a bit intimidating, despite the warm lights seeping outside from the main room. They always kept their lights on with someone on staff, purely because they never knew what time someone would need to walk in.

_I can bet that someone with reasons like ours wasn't part of the plan, _I thought grimly. "This is it, guys. Do we all want to go in, or just one of us?"

Our group glanced at each other, each one shaking their head before Axel voiced the unanimous decision. "All of us."

I nodded briskly, and we all walked up to the door, while I motioned for Sora to knock. Bouncing ahead of me, he did so, four quiet thuds ringing through. Even though Sora was normally loud and obnoxious, he had a habit of being courteous to people that he didn't know all too well. In cases like this, it was a good thing; while we wouldn't get in official trouble for waking anyone up, it definitely wasn't the way to get people to like us.

After a few tense seconds, the door swung open, revealing the last person I had expected to see. "Moreno's Sanctuary For Teens…" Kairi yawned, rubbing her eyes. It was apparent that she had just woken up.

"Kairi?" Kairi blinked, then gasped, staring at the group.

"Sora? Roxas?" She peered behind us. "Zexion and Axel too… What's going on?" Before we could answer, she softly called behind her, "Namine, wake up. Sora and Roxas are here."

There was a bit of rustling, and I heard a murmur something unintelligible before there were footsteps, and Namine stepped out next to Kairi. Her hair was mussed, but she seemed to be more awake than Kairi was, despite the blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders. "Is there something wrong?" She asked, her bell-like voice not even tinged with the slightest bit of sleepiness.

I frowned. "What are you guys doing here? Shouldn't you be home?"

Kairi shook her head, and when she began talking, her voice was still slurred. I wouldn't have been surprised if she was just sleep-talking. "Megera cancelled on Mom, Mulan has a cold, Belle is visiting her mother in another town, and Ariel is on vacation somewhere on the coast. Mom didn't have any choice. She needed someone to be here, but she and Dad were already too tired."

Zexion nodded. "Fortunate for us. Demyx was taken by some of the Nobodies. We came here to plan and regroup."

Kairi gaped. Namine looked equally surprised and Axel laughed roughly. "Tactless as always, Zexion. He explained it the best, though."

The two girls glanced at each other nervously. "How-"

"He was coming to my house, and was intercepted. We don't know what happened after that." Zexion's voice was clipped, and I felt a pang of sympathy for the blunette. Namine took in the information, and after a long pause, she shook her head.

"Zexion, we can't look for him right now. You know that, though, don't you." Namine's face was solemn, and her voice firm. Zexion nodded somberly, and I felt my jaw clench at the idea of abandoning the missing blond.

"Why not? What if they're taking him far away?" I argued, unable to see any sort of logic in her words, "We have a better chance if we look for him now and-"

"He's probably gone by now, Roxas. You can't help that." Opening my mouth, I saw the look on her face, and closed it, glancing down at my feet. "The best thing you can do right now is to go on as normally as possible, and continue the search tomorrow. Just think; how strange would it be for Demyx to disappear, and then have our entire group gone the same day as well?"

A pained expression crossed Zexion's face, and he shook his head. "Namine… is right. We do not know if the people who took Demyx have eyes inside the school. Bringing you four into it will indicate your involvement, and we cannot risk that right now."

As the truth of his words hit me, my heart sank. As much as I hated to admit it, Demyx would have to wait.

* * *

Review? Let me know how you think the plot is doing! 


	10. Investigate

Alrighty. Apologies for the general lateness of this- I blame Minnesota. And my new piano that I got for my birthday- the 5th of this month, so not that much of a distraction, but all the same. Oh, and Ace Attorney. And Nanowrimo. Major thanks to everyone who still reads this! I'm kind of shocked that people still stick to this story. xD

Disclaimed, another thanks to everyone, the chapter is unbeta'd so don't be surprised if it sucks, and here you go!

_

* * *

Tick. Tick. Tick._

The slow clicks that emanated from the clock were the only thing that convinced me that time was passing at all. Even a morning later, after Demyx's… kidnapping, I was still prepared to run out and find him in a moment's notice. The fighter in me wanted to skip school, even to the point of ditching out of whatever class I was in in order to find him. Unfortunately, the logical part of me reigned supreme, echoing back the words that Zexion himself had told me only hours ago.

_"We can't raise suspicion. I can hide Demyx's disappearance, but if we were all to leave, then someone would notice. We have to be on guard at all times, and risking our place in the school wouldn't be worth it if we went out not knowing where he could be." He knew I had wanted to argue with him, and he shook his head gently. "You do realize that they still don't know who the twins are. Just because they knew Demyx was involved doesn't mean that they know everything. We need to use that to our advantage for as long as we can."_

As much as I disliked it, I had to agree with him. Even then, with that rationale, the idea of leaving Demyx to fend for himself for even longer made me sick. It didn't matter how strong her was; we didn't know what we were up against, and I knew there was no chance Demyx by himself… If this wasn't just a kidnapping, then the more time we wasted, the less likely there'd be someone for us to rescue at all.

"Roxas! Pay attention!" I jumped at Zexion's harsh hiss, and I spared a glance at him before I nodded.

Zexion was reacting a lot better than I was surprisingly- at least, as far as I could tell, though maybe it was just an act. While I had been all but ignoring the work we were given, he had immersed himself in it, taking plenty of notes on the subjects he already had memorized. Sighing, I began to do the same. Even if this was the last thing I wanted to be doing at the time, at least it would be a distraction from Demyx's situation.

The period passed slowly, even with the droll work we were doing. When the bell finally rang, I was the first out of my seat, barely taking the time to wait for Zexion as he got up as well. There was no talking on the walk down to Theatre, other than my comment- more to myself than anyone else- of, "So we were in Chem?" and his nod. Just because I was taking notes and studying didn't mean I had a clue what I was doing, apparently.

Instead, I took the time to examine the blunet. Despite his words before, the bags under his eyes and his deathly pallor spoke miles of how worried he was, and it was obvious that he was bothered by how long we had to wait as well. Lips set into a thin line, his expression was completely blank, leaving everyone who didn't know him to the conclusion that he didn't feel like talking to anyone. Which, I couldn't imagine that that he did want to- I knew that his mind was racing through tons of different plans, some logical, some crazy. Hopefully, one of them would be able to help us locate the missing blond. Even if they weren't dating, Demyx meant a lot to Zexion, and it had to be rough on him. Extremely rough.

The double doors marking the entrance to the Auditorium where Theatre was held came into sight quickly, and when I put my hand on the knob to open it, I hesitated. "Are you okay?"

That was the wrong question. It was obvious what the answer was, and I cursed my word choice as he glanced at me, his expression not even shifting. "I will be okay when we get Demyx back," was the level reply. Even his voice was in on the act, not betraying a single drop of emotion. Finally, I nodded, opening the doors. Inside, I could easily pick out our group, along with the few that had been added just recently. The only person missing was Axel himself, his bright red hair nowhere to be seen.

At that thought, I frowned. Xigbar wasn't there, even if I had been expecting him to be. I had automatically added him in to the main group, but when I thought about it, I didn't even know if he knew anything. Did any of Zexion's other friends have a part in this?

There wasn't any more time to debate it as we made our way into the circle, greeted first by Larxene's sneer. "And look what the cat dragged in. About time you two showed up." Nice to see you too. "Axel's already talked to everyone about our plan already. He'll be back before class starts."

"When he does, Larxene and I will take our leave." Marluxia took over from there, his voice as steady as always. Zexion nodded a greeting to him, and he returned it, continuing, "Our absence would not be noticed, at least not to the extent that it would be if you were to go. We'll do as much as we can to locate him."

"I'll accompany you," Zexion spoke up immediately. Marluxia scoffed.

"No you won't. You're too close to Demyx, for one- we can't have your emotions messing with our search. You'd be of more help here, where we can use you to get messages to everyone and keep an eye on the people here."

Zexion frowned, but didn't object as Larxene snorted in disgust, displeased with the plan but wiling to go along with it. "Anything to get out of this wretched place. _School._" She scoffed, the word spat out disgustedly. "I had never imagined ever having to come back to it. When I graduated, the principal cried. I would have cried too, if I were her. All those years of torture, finally over."

There was the wicked simper that I had been expecting. I didn't pay much mind to it, however, as I frowned in confusion. "You graduated already?"

She had the grace to look surprised by my question. "But of course! You didn't _really _think that I was remotely close to the same age as you, did you?" I didn't respond. She let out a light titter. "I'm _flattered _that you think I look that young. I haven't been to a high school in three years. Even Axel hasn't been to this hell hole in a while- he graduated last year."

Three years? That meant she was 21. Looking at her again, I wasn't that surprised; despite being an utter demon, she didn't have the same demeanor that you would expect from a typical high schooler. Axel being graduated surprised me more than it should have, though- after all, he was almost as immature as the people in my grade, if not even more so. As for Marluxia…

I glanced at him, and he smiled wryly. "Five years."

"How did you-"

Kairi didn't have a chance to finish the question before a voice behind us drawled, "Fabricating papers is oh so easy nowadays, don't you know?" I didn't even have to turn to know that the now familiar tone belonged to Axel. He sauntered into the circle, seemingly at ease, though the dark circles under his tired eyes told the real story. Even then, the cut that remained on his cheek from last night was a reminder of what he'd been through. "It was a pain in the ass for these two old farts-" he stuck his tongue out at them, ignoring Larxene's acidicly sweet response of, "Crawl in a hole and die, asshole" "-But it was simple enough for me. Ah, the glories of being eighteen."

Eighteen? I guess I was wrong. If he'd been out of school for a year, then shouldn't he be nineteen? He must have graduated early or… something of the sort.

"You're old enough to get charged for crimes as an adult, but not old enough to have alcohol," Marluxia replied, a warm undertone of amusement in his words. "Forgive me if I don't see the benefits you're talking about."

Axel winced, laughing and scratching the back of his head. "Ouch, Mar, hit a man where it hurts." Almost as an afterthought, he added, "They messed up my birth date twice- maybe they'll do the same when I get my license."

Ah. That made more sense. Graduated early by a fluke.

"If only you were so lucky." _Damn _those two sound alike. Twisting my neck, I took in Reno's catlike grin as he regarded the group, though it seemed more thoughtful than anything else. Did he know about Demyx? "Bell's rung, kiddies. Time to get to your seats."

If anyone gave him a snarky response, I didn't listen in long enough to hear it. Instead, I took Sora's hand and led him to the chairs, settling down in the first row. He had been incredibly quiet the whole morning, making me nervous enough to ignore everyone else in favor of him. Sora was never this quiet, not even when you bribed him with candy. It hurt, seeing him like this, and even when we sat down I refused to let go of his hand. Sora cared about _everyone_, and I could only imagine how much what happened to Demyx was bothering him.

A soft squeeze on my hand. I glanced up to see Sora smiling gently at me, even if it was obvious that he was having troubles keeping it up. He must have seen how upset I was. "I'm okay, Roxy," he said, squeezing my hand again. He was just too… _Sora. _

I held back my frown as I nodded, releasing my grip. Just in time, too, as I was approached by none other than Olette, looking as cheerful as ever. In the past weeks, we had talked quite a bit, so I wasn't surprised when she came up to me.

"Hey Roxy, have you seen Demyx?" I blinked, and she added, "I would have asked Zexion, but he looks a bit distracted."

As least she was attentive. Zexion had taken up brooding in the third row, and probably wouldn't have even noticed her if she tried talking to him. Thankful that she had left him alone, I gave her the biggest smile that I could muster in an attempt to mask the worry I felt. "Sorry, I haven't. I think he went to go visit relatives, though. Why?"

Olette seemed downcast. "He was supposed to help me with my skit today, but I guess I'll just have to manage on my own." I bit my lip as she paused. Yeah, it would have to wait, but hopefully, it won't be long. "Actually…" My attention turned back to her as she tapped a finger on her chin thoughtfully. "He mentioned something about today, now that I think about it. _Give this to them if I'm gone._"

I nearly jumped up in excitement at her words. As it was, my eye widened considerably, and I felt Sora leaning over into the conversation. Luckily, I didn't even have to prod her before she let out a cry of triumph. "He gave me a note! That's it. He asked me not to read it, but give it to Zexion. It's in my bag!"

Twirling around to the backpack, she began rustling through it, and behind me, I could hear Zexion mutter, "Excuse me," and even a "Get out of my way" to someone who didn't move quick enough. The whole time I held my breath, unable to squash the glimmerings of hope that began to arise. This _had _to be a clue from him. It had to be.

When Olette finally found the note, she looked up and jumped slightly when she saw Zexion standing next to her expectantly. She must have been so intensely into her search that she didn't notice him approaching her- or she didn't expect him to even hear her if he was so deep in thought as he was before.

"Demyx had a note for me?" His voice seemed unnecessarily quiet, as if he couldn't bring himself to believe the same thing I was hoping. She nodded, giving him a cheery grin.

"Sorry! I nearly forgot about it. Here you go." Handing it over, she backed up slightly when he all but grabbed it, though he looked apologetic afterwards.

"Thank you, Olette." The words seemed almost awkward coming from the blue haired boy. Olette bobbed her head in acceptance of it, however, and he shuffled off, this time sitting in the row directly behind me. Olette frowned after him, concerned. I wasn't surprised. With how Zexion normally acted, seeing him act off in the smallest bit was disconcerting.

She didn't have time to ask us what was going on, and Zexion didn't get very far before Reno called out to us, stopping him in his tracks. "Olette, you're in control of the class for now. Sound good?" Confusion clouding her eyes, Olette nodded, jumping up to the stage. She took control quickly, calling Selphie over to consult with her- probably about what game to play. "Roxas, Zexion, could I talk to you real quick?" Alarmed, I nodded, standing up. Seeing his slight grin did nothing to reassure me as I made my way over to the far corner he was in. Neither did what he said next. "Don't worry. If you were in trouble, I'd have you hanging from your thumbs from the catwalk. I just need to talk for a second."

Well. That was reassuring. Why did he put himself so far away anyways? And how did he even manage to yell loud enough for everyone to hear him? Vaguely I wondered if he did it just so that he could yell out that non-threat in a way that everyone could hear. It was a pretty good threat, after all.

I couldn't resist glancing up at the catwalks before looking back down, eliciting a laugh behind me. "Don't worry, squirt. Reno's never done anything that drastic before." I could see his long legs before the rest of his body as Axel approached. I raised an eyebrow at him, and he grinned. "Nah, he makes sure to get you with his lead pipe first. Anyone who gets into trouble after that must have serious mental issues, and not just from the pipe."

_Because that's so much less painful. _I rolled my eyes. "What do you want?"

If it weren't for the wicked gleam in his eyes, I almost would have thought that he was hurt by my words. "Is it illegal for me to keep the fair maiden company?" Then he glanced past me, sobering up quickly. "Hey emo boy, you open the note yet?"

I hadn't even noticed Zexion beside me. He frowned- whether at the nickname or at the note, I wasn't sure. "No, I haven't."

Axel nodded. "Good. Don't until you're by yourself."

There was no time to say anything else as we finally made it to Reno, who frowned at his brother tagging along, but didn't argue as he pulled us even further aside. Frowning seemed to be the hobby of the day here.

Scrutinizing us for a few seconds, Reno sighed, running a hand through the bright red hair that wasn't contained in a pony. "I have my partner Rude out looking for your friend. He's a security guard, so he can get into the places that you normally wouldn't be able to, but we're not getting the feds involved. I can't imagine they'd even believe you if you told them your cracked-up tale, but if they do, well," he gave a lopsided shrug, "I can't imagine it'd be good."

Immediately Zexion turned to Axel, all of my disbelief echoed in his simple raised eyebrow. "He knows?"

Axel made a noise of affirmation but was interrupted by Axel before he could say anything else. "Only as much as I need to in order to find Demyx. I don't know the full details and I'd like for it to stay that way. You know what I mean?" He gave an easygoing shrug, grinning. "Yes, Axel can shoot fire out of his hands and do nifty shit. I'm cool with that, whatever man. Just don't tell me anything else. That's some freaky stuff you've got there, and I don't want to know a single word more."

That was an appropriate summary of everything, even if I wasn't all too certain that Axel shot fire from his hands at all. Really, if I weren't already neck deep in this whole thing, that would be what I would say if I was asked to help. It was obvious that Zexion agreed from the look on his face. "How many others have you told, Axel?"

Axel furrowed his brows. "Reno is the one who I've told the most about it, and even then that's sparse. His partner Rude knows that the kid's missing and to not call the police, but that's it. Which, even then, it's fine," he added when he saw the mutual distrust on both my face and Zexion's, "Rude barely even says anything when you're talking to him. We don't have to worry about either of the knuckleheads talking."

"Feeling the love, bro," Reno said dryly. I held back a snort at that.

Even with the gratefulness I felt towards him and this 'Rude', whoever that was, I was still wary of the plan. "They're normal, though," I pointed out bluntly, ignoring Reno's indignant exclamation, "The Nobodies are the ones who took Demyx. What happens if they find him? Do you think that they'd stand a chance against them?"

"Whoa, there, short stuff." My eyes narrowed into a glare at the still indignant Reno. "We can handle ourselves. Even if we can't do anything of that sort, Rude and I are plenty able to defend ourselves."

"Even then, where will you guys go to look for him? If they used a portal, then there's a chance he's no where in this general area," I countered, "What then?"

I think Reno would have been more insulted if I didn't look so upset. Instead, Axel responded, actually sounding like he thought about it. "We don't know their limits, though. For all we know, they could be right next to us, in some sort of abandoned building. With him only being abducted so long ago, they couldn't have had time to move him far if they wanted to. As so, we have to check here. It's our first and easiest option, after all."

Beside me, Zexion nodded, impressed. "It sounds like you actually thought this out."

"Marluxia, actually." Axel shrugged, "I'm just stealing his thunder."

"Regardless," Reno cut in, impatient. With how long this conversation was taking, I could see why. "I'm helping, you know, so we're cool. Now, get into your seats. I have a class to teach."

* * *

This time, class sped by like it was nonexistent for me. Zexion was preoccupied beyond belief with talking with Axel, something that Reno turned a blind eye to. When I had voiced the question about the other members of the table, Zexion explained it quickly, though it was a vague approximation. The only thing I really got out of it was that they all knew what was going on, and the reason that Xigbar was gone from class was because the first thing he did when he heard that Demyx was gone was go out and look for him. That was almost three hours ago. When he came back, it was almost the end of the period. The frown on his face as he gave a note excusing his absence to Reno told us the whole story; he hadn't found a single clue.

It was only in P.E, with Zexion and I both sitting on the bleachers by ourselves, that the note was brought back out. I was nearly shaking in anticipation, but Zexion seemed completely calm with the whole situation. Instead, he flipped it slowly in his hands, gazing off into the distance.

"Well?" His eyes slid towards mine, but other than that, he didn't move. "Aren't you going to open it?"

To be honest, I was surprised that he had put it off for so long. In all the time that I'd known him, no matter how short that time really was, Zexion had made one thing clear; he was not one to avoid something that needed to be done. And yet, he still hesitated. "I have to be careful about who I open it around."

At first, I thought he was talking about me. However, he wasn't looking at me, and slowly, I figured it out. "You think there's someone spying on us from within the school." He nodded, and I frowned, glancing at the other teens in the room. The thought wasn't all too peculiar, especially if whoever we were up against was smart enough to catch someone like Demyx off guard. "Any idea who it could be? I mean, if it's someone in this class that you have your eyes on, then who?"

There was no verbal response, but his gaze lingering on one certain person said enough. I frowned, confused, as I too watched the silver haired boy kicking the soccer ball around. "You think…?"

He nodded. "Logically, it would be the best position for a spy to be in- it seems to be obvious that they know that Demyx is involved, if they targeted him, and who better to see what's going on than his best friend's brother?" A pause. "It's only a hypothesis, but I can't let the fact that he's family stop me if I am right."

"But… that couldn't be right." Zexion raised an eyebrow, and I continued, "Wouldn't it be better to have a User on his side? All that he would be is a weak link. Not to mention the fact that Riku is virtually nonexistent, since his social life is so vast. He wouldn't have time for it, would he?"

There was silence for a few minutes as he mulled over what I said. "You raised several valid points," he said finally, his brows knitting lightly.

When he didn't say anything else, I went on, "It'd be a good place, but really, it could be anyone. What would you do if it turned out to be Olette? What if it was _me, _or Axel, even? What then?"

His lips drew into a thin line, and he actually looked _amused. _"Are you the spy?" Immediately I shook my head, and he continued, "I didn't think so. Olette would be an even worse pick, and Axel…" a pause. "I have reason to believe that this is personal for him. Regardless, I'm keeping an eye on him. If the spy turns out to be someone that I trust or rely on, then I will cross that bridge when I reach it. A moment, if you would please."

With that abrupt change of subject, he opened the note, and I fidgeted, wanting to read over his shoulder but refraining. His solemn, blank expression told me nothing as his eyes skimmed the note, not even when he handed it over to me. Quickly I grabbed it, the paper crinkling loudly from my abusive grasp on it. My brows furrowed as I saw the short, simple message, and reread it several times. Suddenly, the lack of emotion in Zexion's face made sense.

_B-16._

When I had been expecting a long and lengthy explanation on what had happened and where to find him, this almost seemed like a joke. "B-16? What, were you guys in the middle of a long game of Battleship and he wanted to get one last turn in?" The pitch of my voice showed how upset I was about this, and Zexion just took the note from me, noticing my heavily shaking hands. A good thing; I was seconds away from crushing it up. "That…"

"Admittedly, was not what was expected, but the meaning is sure to be clear to us soon." I gave him a droll stare, though it seemed it wasn't needed as I looked at him. What his voice hadn't conveyed was the almost sardonic expression he was wearing. Letting out a loose laugh, I sunk back into the bleachers, covering my face with my hands.

"Shit," I muttered, still attempting to bite back the laughter but failing, "I was hoping for something _helpful_, maybe telling who was behind it or where to find him. Anything but this poor excuse for a hint." My words were muffled, but by the way Zexion 'hm'ed in response, he understood everything that I had said. Another burst of snickers from me. "Shit," I repeated, finally sliding my hands off my face, "This sucks."

Zexion 'hm'ed again, but this time he was frowning. Noting that he wasn't about to reply, I huffed, looking away. This whole kidnapping thing was driving me mad, and once again, I felt powerless to do anything- which was made worse by the fact that I _was _powerless to do anything. _That _was the worst feeling.

I jumped lightly as I heard a rustle next to me, and I glanced up at Zexion. Instead of brooding like before, he had stood up, eyes focused and almost seeming like he had an idea. That was certainly a change from how he was acting only seconds ago. "What is it?"

"I'll be back," he answered swiftly, though it wasn't really an answer at all. I wasn't given another chance to ask as he strode out of the gym, not even bothering to ask to leave. I stared dumbly after him, caught between wondering what the hell he was doing or running after him and asking. Only when he was almost out the door did I jolt up from my slouching, my brain finally catching up.

"W-wait! What am I supposed to say if someone asks where you went?" The door closed with a thud, and I rolled my eyes, settling down deeper in my seat. I swear, if I keep that up, I'll fall through soon. "Bathroom it is. Even the brilliant have to pee sometimes."

With Zexion gone, it was only inevitable that I would become bored quickly. Thinking about Demyx's case wasn't doing me any good and only pissed me off even more, and tapping a pencil on the bleacher next to me only entertained for so long. Though, I had to admit that I wasted a good minute wondering where the hell I picked up the pencil in the first place. I took up twirling the pencil between my fingers, thinking back to the past few days. It was funny, how this was no longer considered even partially weird to me. Really, controlling elements had been around in stories for years, but when it suddenly became, well, real like this, then it was only natural that you'd want to call bullshit. Add in this whole myth thing that's been going around, and it'd convince anyone to apply for a cell in a mental hospital.

I frowned lightly. Well. If it wasn't for the fact that the control we have over things is so blatant that it's impossible to ignore. How did it come so naturally anyways?

A tap on the hand not busy with the pencil. Turning my head, I scowled. "About time you came back. I've been-"

No one was there. I blinked, irritation disappearing immediately. When there was another tap, I glanced down to my hand and froze.

Right next to my hand was a little blob of darkness, inky black and strangely familiar. A skinny little body connected to the sphere on top, with what looked like an arm being the culprit of the poking. It was rather disproportionate, the top part being easily the size of the rest of the body, and I almost wanted to pretend that it didn't exist.

The blob looked up, beady little eyes staring into mine, before it gave me a large grin.

Silence. I stared down at it a bit more, dumbfounded. "What the hell?"

It blinked.

Quickly I snapped into action, grabbing it up in my hands and turning so that no one else could see it. Its mouth opened into an 'o' of shock, and I could almost imagine it squeaking in surprise as I scrutinized it. "What the hell _are _you?" I breathed, more to myself than to it. "A Heartless of some sort?"

That couldn't be right. The Heartless I had seen before now all had yellow eyes, and this thing… its eyes were a lighter shade of black, closer to a gray than anything else. Then it shook its head, and I had to stop myself from dropping it. "Can you understand me?"

A nod. Holy shit. It was a blob that spoke my language. My weirdness censor only goes so far.

It shifted, and what I assumed to be an arm slid out from between my fingers, smooth in an almost liquid-esque way. Shivering at the feeling, I watched as the arm stretched, much further than I had thought possible, before it stopped at my chest, tapping lightly on it. My brows furrowed in confusion. "What about me?"

Moving the arm back, it pointed at itself, the arm shrinking down to a reasonable length. "You?" Bobbing its head, the arm moved back out to me. "Me." Finally, it connected. "Wait, you're saying that _I _created you?"

From the enthusiasm in that nod, I assumed it was a yes. Wasn't he afraid that his head would fall off? "How did I manage to do that? And why can't I understand you, if that's the case?" A shrug. "Right. Glad that we cleared that up."

"Roxanne?" I flailed lightly as I turned to face Tifa, squeezing my creation tightly. Her head was tilted to the side, and the stern look on her face was ruined by the confusion mixing with it. "What are you doing? And where is Zexion?"

Uh oh. "Um…?" I scratched the back of my head with my free hand. Think, Roxas, think! "Zexion went to the bathroom- he really had to go. You know?" By her frown, she didn't approve, but she didn't argue the point. "And I was… practicing my lines in Theatre."

"Is that part of your role in Theatre?" I nearly stopped breathing as she pointed to the thing clutched tightly in my fist. "And… what is it exactly?" She peered down at it, and I prayed that it wouldn't move. _Please _don't let it move.

"Um…" I stalled for time before putting him down next to me, an idea popping in my head. "He's a bobble head!"

She blinked. "Really?" Apparently mulling over that thought, she finally nodded. "I guess that makes sense, since its head is so big… and it is kind of cute."

Success! "Yeah, it is. People go for cutesy things in bobble heads, and he fits!" I let out a giggle to drive the point home, feeling my masculinity die a little bit more. Oh, the things I do.

A finger curled out and poked its right where its forehead would be. To its credit, he didn't move. To his discredit, _he didn't move. _Bobble heads are supposed to move, damn it! "He's broken," I explained lamely.

"Ah." She didn't look like she believed me, but she cleared her throat, crossing her arms. "Um. Carry on."

I chuckled nervously and waved her off as she left, still looking vaguely disturbed. Waiting a few seconds for her to get further away, I sighed before turning to the thing, waving a finger at it. "See that? You nearly got me in trouble. Bobble heads are supposed to bobble. Got it?"

It hung its head, as if ashamed, and I let the finger drop. "Okay, fine, I forgive you. I guess I shouldn't have expected you to know something like that. Hell, the fact that you talk should be good enough for me." Frowning, I considered it. "I need a name for you."

"What the hell is that thing?"

I blanched, turning to see a single raised eyebrow. "Hello, Zexion. Where'd you go?"

"Roxas, don't change the subject. Is it a Heartless?"

That's why he seemed so hostile. I should have figured that one out. "No! No. I guess I created it. That's what it told me, anyways."

If that eyebrow raised any higher, it would disappear. "It… told you?"

I nodded, and immediately Zexion reached out a finger to prod at it. The blob didn't seem to like the attention it was suddenly getting, and instead of hitting its forehead like Zexion had intended, the finger accidentally made it into the thing's mouth, and it chomped down. There was a long pause, and finally, Zexion uttered, "Ow."

"You let him go, right now!" I scolded it quickly, flicking it where I guessed his stomach would be. With some hesitation, it let him go, gently retracting its mouth before patting the injured finger with its arm. Zexion sat down, examining his finger closely.

"I could have sworn that I felt teeth on that, but I didn't see any when he opened his mouth," Zexion mused, his eyes turning back to the blob, who seemed to have an apologetic expression on its face- quite an impressive feat, since it was literally made of darkness. "You don't have to look so upset. It's fine." When it smiled, Zexion directed his attention to me. "How did you say you created it?"

"I didn't say. I have no clue, really. I was just thinking about this whole situation, and poof." I gestured. "He was there. He doesn't know how I managed it, either."

Zexion knitted his brows. "Interesting. You're calling it a he?"

Blinking, I thought back to what I just said. "Yeah, I guess so. You've been calling him the same thing, and it's not like I have a name for him yet. You never told me where you went, you know."

"I went to talk to Reno. I wanted to see what he thought of the note." He paused. "He's looking into it, but doesn't have any ideas yet. What are you going to do with him?"

He could switch topics _fast_. "I'm not sure. He could come in handy- you never know what he could do."

Zexion nodded. "And we know for sure he's not a Heartless- I've never seen one without yellow eyes." See? That's exactly what I thought. "You might want to hide him, though- I can't imagine explaining him to anyone."  
I groaned. "Actually, your mother was quite confused by him. I told her that he was a bobble head, and when she poked him, he failed to move his head, so I had to tell her he was broken."

As soon as I said that, my head spun, nausea crawling up my spine. Well, if that wasn't familiar. If he responded, I didn't hear it as I put a hand to my head, trying to ignore the feeling. "Zex, I think…"

Alarmed, he grabbed the blob and pushed me into a laying position. "Keep down as if you're taking a nap. I'll cover for you. If anyone find out what's going on, then we're in trouble."

"We need better timing…" I muttered as I closed my eyes. Within seconds all the sounds of the gym faded from my ears, and I sank into unconsciousness.

* * *

When I reopened my eyes, I instantly recognized where I was. The corner that Demyx had been taken from hadn't changed a bit, and even in the light it was easy to tell. In front of me, Larxene snapped her finger to alert Marluxia, who turned and nodded to me, stopping whatever he was doing before. Adding that to the fact that I was, once again, nothing but a floating ball of light, it was obvious that Larxene had called me here. "There you are, my little drag queen. Took your sweet time, didn't you?" Marluxia elbowed her lightly, and she rolled her eyes. "Fine, gotta make sure of who it is. Roxas?" Second passed. She frowned. "You know, when someone asks you a question, you're supposed to respond."

Yep. I'd love to, except for the fact that I'm a _fucking ball of light_, if you can't tell. I don't even have a _mouth_ in which to properly show my anger with.

Lucky for me, Marluxia caught onto my problem and sighed. "If you are Roxas, spin in a circle for us."

I can do that?

Slowly, I tested it out, and if I could grin, I would have as I moved in a circular motion, even if I couldn't figure out _how _I managed it. Marluxia nodded in approval. "Good job. Larxene tends to forget that most people don't know the schematics of her power."

Larxene waved a hand flippantly. "You flatter me, Marly."

Wait, didn't that mean that she could call anyone and have them be able to talk to her? And what about why they were calling me? Did they find something? I spun around rapidly, trying to find some way to communicate and ask them, because damn it, even if I could move, there was just no replacement for a mouth. Once again, Marluxia was the one to catch on, and I stopped as he shook his head. "We didn't find Demyx. We tried calling him into the orb like we did you, but it's a little more complicated than that, and even Larxene has her limitations. We're not exactly sure what's limiting her here, but it could be anything from distance-"

"To the fact that his element is considered incompatible with mine," Larxene finished the sentence for him airily, "Lightning and water and all that jazz. Or he could be dead. Can't exactly call someone who doesn't exist any more."

Inwardly I cringed. That was one possibility I didn't want to even think of.

"However, that may not even be a factor," Marluxia interrupted, "There's a possibility that someone has the power to negate our abilities." Larxene shot Marluxia a dirty look for interrupting her, and punched him in the arm. If it hurt, he didn't show it. "We would have called Zexion, but you seem to come to Larxene easier than him."

Larxene cackled at that, as if amused by something that I had no clue about. "No mention of the fact that you're the chick, so it'd be better for you to faint than him. Maybe if you're lucky your dashing prince will be the one to pick you up!" The sheer mockery in her words made me wince, and as a way of changing the subject and asking what was going on, I flitted in front of her face. Watching her eyes cross in order to see me, I had my own little cackle fit as she attempted to bat me away, missing by an inch. Catching a wry grin from Marluxia, I finally backed off, reveling in the irritation in her eyes.

"Tell Zexion that Xemnas is here, and to talk to Axel about it. Axel knows who he is, and if you tell him that we said it, then he'll explain what he knows. There hasn't been any leads on Demyx's whereabouts, but if we find anything we'll call you back. Are you okay with being our messenger of sorts?"

I circled without hesitation, and he nodded. "We've also been suspecting that there's a spy in the school- I'm pretty sure that Zexion should have mentioned something to you. Do you have any possible ideas on who it is?" I had to squash the surprise I felt at the question. I had to remember that just because I was only recently talked to about it didn't mean that no one else had thought of it yet. Then I hesitated. Did Riku count? He wasn't exactly the best idea for it, but at the same time he _was _a possibility. If he was, then right now we had absolutely no proof. Luckily, Marluxia took my hesitation to be confusion. "For no, make a straight line. Yes, a circle."

Hey, I actually needed that answer. Slowly, I made a straight line before making a circle. Marluxia furrowed his brows, perplexed. "Was that a yes or a no?"

To my surprise, I was saved by Larxene, who laughed. "It means that they have someone in mind, but don't know whether or not it's the correct person. Right, sweetheart?" I never thought that she could manage to sound so sweet and innocent. Shuddering inwardly at the nickname, I circled, and she nodded. "See, Mar? You just have to know girl talk."

Was she _still _going to poke fun at that? … And wasn't she the one who couldn't understand me earlier?

Waving a hand, she turned away, suddenly uninterested. "You're free to go, honey. Just remember what we said, or I get to electrocute you. Sound fair?" I could _hear _the grin in her words as she said that, and contemplated whether or not I should circle. Marluxia nodded once, and I was spared from making a choice as he left, the world fading back to black once more.

* * *

I gasped, jolting up from where I had been laying. The blob I had forgotten existed flew from my chest with an exaggerated 'o' on its face, but I ignored it, instead patting my body down quickly to make sure that I was back. Zexion grabbed my shoulder, visible eye wide. "Roxas, are you okay? Calm down!"

"I'm back at the school, right?" I asked quickly, grasping Zexion's arm. Thankfully, it was solid, and he nodded, though confusion was still apparent on his face. Breathing a sigh of relief, I let go, offering my hand to the blob so that it could get up. "Sorry about that. Gets kind of disconcerting, being incorporeal and all that."

"Roxas, what-"

"You know, for all they talked, they weren't all that helpful," I interrupted him. This time, even if it had been the same thing as before, it was easier for me to catch my breath, even if my head was still kind of fuzzy still. Instead of asking questions immediately, Zexion waited patiently for me to get myself under control.

"It wasn't a premonition," he finally said, his voice flat. It wasn't a question.

Glancing around the gym, I nodded. "Did anyone notice? How long was I out?"

"Five minutes, no one saw a thing," he answered swiftly. "Larxene?"

I nodded again, glancing down at the blob in my hand as he stretched out, looking mighty comfy for a shadow. "Marluxia was there too. They wanted to know if we had an idea on who the spy was, and for me to tell you to talk to Axel about someone named Xemnas. They say he's involved, and that Axel knows who he is. Does it sound familiar?"

He frowned thoughtfully, his hand on his chin. That seemed to be his thinking pose, I noted. "Xemnas? Unfortunately not. Did they say anything else about him?"

I shook my head. "No. They just said to talk to Axel and tell him that they said to explain it." I paused. "They think there's someone on the other side who can stop our powers from working, too. Either that, or there was another reason that they couldn't call Demyx to them like they did me." Zexion flinched lightly at the mention of the blond, but I didn't give him time to dwell on it. "They said to keep looking for the spy, too."

"Did you tell them our suspicions?" At Zexion's question, I gave him a droll stare.

"I was kind of a little ball of light at the time, so I was a little tongue-tied. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Zexon snorted, amused. "I forgot the manner in which her power manifested. No matter. I shall talk to her and Marluxia about it later on. Did they say anything else?"

I laughed lightly. "Like I said, they talked a lot for not saying much." Though, really, they _were _kind of helpful, despite what I said earlier. It was better than nothing at all, at least.

With that, we fell into silence, watching the class in front of us. To think; just a few weeks ago, the only thing I had on my mind was Riku, and nothing else. Enjoying the random classes was a plus side to my original 'mission'. Now, though, I had to save the world and make sure that my friends didn't _die. _As in, permanent death, not like in video games where everyone has five lives or something of the sort. Seriously, what was with teenagers being chosen to be superheroes anyways? Our issues involved slitting our wrists over breakups and wondering what we were going to eat for dinner. Shouldn't people with, I don't know, better priorities be picked?

It just seemed so bizarre. "Do you ever wonder why?" At Zexion's raised eyebrow, I continued on, moving to prop my elbows on the bleacher behind me and slouch down. The blob climbed up my arm to nestle into the hood of my hoodie, thankfully hidden from view. "Out of all the people in the world, it was us. Shouldn't it have been someone more competent?"

A chuckle broke out of Zexion, and he shook his head. "It's easier to not think about it. For all I know, it only because of the strange circumstances surrounding your birth, including Sora, Kairi, and Namine." I frowned. Vaguely I remembered Sora mentioning something about that- our parents had gone into labor at the same time, and even managed to give birth together, Sora and Kairi first, and then me and Namine. It was considered to be a complete mystery to the doctors that were helping them. "At the same time, there would be no reason for us to all be in such close proximity- after all, some of us were like this even before you four were born. It would have been best for it to be whoever was closest to you to gain powers instead of complete strangers." He paused. "No, it's better to just accept it and let it be. There are better things to focus on."

Once more, it became quiet, those this silence didn't last half as long. I was almost afraid to ask my next question, but pressed on, "Do you think we'll find him?"

I didn't have to say who I meant. Instead of looking upset like I was almost expecting, Zexion looked contemplative, staring into the distance in front of him before his eyes returned to me. "Do you remember the first day you were here? You asked whether or not the two of us were dating, and I told you it was complicated."

Blinking, I thought back. That's right; I had completely forgotten about that. Now Zexion's strange behavior seemed to make a bit more sense, considering the circumstances. "Yeah, I remember. Why?"

"We made a promise when this happened. No distractions would be allowed until it was over, and we had to make sure that our ties weren't deep enough for us to jeopardize what we were doing if anything happened to the other." He smiled wryly. "Not that it did us much- even if we're not dating, there's no denying the fact that our relationship could easily be used against us." There was something different in his eyes, and I almost wanted to look away from the intensity in his gaze. "Do you understand what I'm saying, Roxas?"

Unable to find the proper words to respond to that, I nodded. Yeah, I understood. I had to do whatever I could to bring him back. "We'll find him. I'll make sure of it.

* * *

A/N: Just a real quick thing. Doesn't Cindy from Jimmy Neutron remind you of a younger, maybe nicer Larxene? Just sayin'. Also, Zemyx is becoming my new favorite pairing (le gasp!) due to the fact that it's like the KH version of Edgeworth/Phoenix. Zexion is just way too much like Edgeworth to ignore it! Chapter eleven is written, by the way, just has to be typed down, and as an apology for the lack of Axel here, there will be plenty of him in the next one! See you then! (So that wasn't that quick, but whatever. xD)


	11. Chapter 11

This is _long _overdue, and the next chapters probably will be as well. No excuses, no apologies, no promises. Actually, I have two promises-one, this _will _be finished, regardless of how long it takes me. Two, this will be the _last time _I ever start a story without knowing what I'm doing with it past the first chapter. Seriously. No fic should take this long to finish and/or update. (And sorry this chapter isn't full of awesome as it should be from the two year delay, but this was just an obnoxious chapter to write. So glad it's over.)

* * *

After class ended, the blob was safely hidden in my bag and Zexion and I went to the cafeteria with the girls, the four of us being the first to arrive. The lack of others didn't last long, though, as the table slowly filled up, mumbled greetings being the only words that were shared. Vexen, Luxord and Xigbar were surprisingly absent, and when I asked Zexion about it, he merely shrugged and said something along the lines of Vexen being too busy looking into solutions for Demyx to eat, with the other two joining the frosty academic. I wasn't aware that Vexen _could _care about anything except for science, but I went with it anyways.

For a little bit, it was quiet, and I reveled in the small sense of normalcy that came with it. No talk of magic, or stupid little blob things or friends being kidnapped being discussed. It was surprising how much you could miss something as simple as eating without worries until it actually happened.

Unfortunately, that didn't last long either.

"What the heck is that?"

I blinked, twisted to see Sora arrive at the table, then looked back to see what he was talking about. Groaning in exasperation, I grabbed the blob that had somehow managed to find a way out of my backpack and had begun skulking around on the table. "You just _refuse _to not be a bother, don't you?" I scolded him, almost feeling bad when he drooped his head, as if in apology. "No. You have to stay in the bag if I tell you to stay in the bag, all right?"

"That still doesn't explain what it is, you know," Sora told me, bumping me a bit as he plunked down next to me. I shrugged halfheartedly, still inwardly mourning the loss of the peace. He reached out to poke the blob, and I winced, fully expecting the little shadow thing to have the same reaction to it as he did with Zexion. To my surprise, he just stood still and allowed Sora to prod him, though he didn't look too pleased with the finger sinking into his head.

"We're still not exactly sure what he is, but Roxas created him," Zexion said absentmindedly, peering up from over the top of his black book for a minute.

When he offered no more information, Sora shrugged and poked the blob again. "He have a name?" I shook my head. "He does now. I dub him 'Fred'."

I looked at him, then shrugged, turning back to my newly named creation. "Works for me. He really needs to go back in the bag, though."

Fred managed to give me a disgruntled frown—how did he _do _that?—but didn't protest when I pushed him back in, having to unzip the bag in order to do so. Apparently, he had just seeped through the zipper to get out instead of finding a way to open it. A glance around confirmed that no one else saw him, and with a sigh, I began eating my food, scooting away from Sora as he messily did the same.

"So seriously, you made that thing?" Sora asked, thankfully swallowing before he attempted talking. I nodded.

"I'm not sure how, but yeah." I stabbed the chicken on my lunch tray. "I don't know how to get rid of it either."

"Why would you want to?"

It took me a second to realize that it wasn't Sora who responded, but Kairi, and belatedly, I realized that I'd forgotten to tell her and Naminé about 'Fred' as well. Inwardly, I thanked Sora for taking care of prompting me to explain, and seeing me shift my eyes to her, she continued, "I mean, it—he—could be useful. Besides, you can't just name a thing and then get rid of it. That's just wrong."

Naminé and Sora nodded solemnly, and I reluctantly agreed, "I guess so. I didn't say that I _wanted _to get rid of him, though he'd cause a lot less problems that way." _Speaking of problems… _I quickly glanced around the table, distracted by that thought. "Where's Axel?"

I probably should have been amused by the fact that in my mind, the first word linked to trouble was Axel, but instead, I found my mood to be slightly soured by the thought as Sora shrugged. "I don't know. He said he had something to do, but he didn't say what it was or when he'd be back."

"Ah." With that response I shrugged and began eating, not really tasting the food I was spooning into my mouth. After the meeting with Marluxia and Larxene in fourth period, I was eager to talk to him about the man the two had mentioned, hopefully divulging information that would help us find Demyx in the process. The fact that he wasn't here to explain irked me more than it should have, though I was quick to attribute that disappointment to how much I wanted to figure this all out. If he wasn't here, there wasn't much we could do.

"Roxy? You okay?" Surprised by the sound of Naminé's voice, I nearly choked on my bite, and Sora had to pound me on the back in order to make sure I didn't die from it or something. Wouldn't _that_ be great, savior of the world taken down by fake chicken.

Finally managing to force down the food in my mouth, I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Naminé frowned and shook her head lightly. "You just seemed a bit off for a second there, that's all." Before I had time to ponder over her words, she quickly added, "Actually, I need to talk to you about something."

Tilting my head lightly, I put down my fork. "Sure. What do you need?"

"It's…" For once, Naminé faltered, and instead of answering my question, she cast a glance behind her with something in her eyes that really didn't suit her at all. I followed her gaze, and immediately settled on what I knew, without a second thought, to be her problem. How entirely _fitting_, I thought as my eyes flickered from the two, that just when I thought that things were going to completely deviate from normal, something like this shifted everything back into teenage drama once more.

"Yeah."

_Riku._

Naminé turned back to me, that glimmer in her eyes fading almost instantly. I couldn't help the little frown that was insistently worming its way onto my face as I stared at her, brows furrowing ever so slightly. Was that what _I _looked like when I caught a glimpse of the silver haired boy?

"You're right," I said slowly. I pushed my tray to the side Sora was on and stood up, ignoring the curious stares I received. "We need to talk. Sora, watch over my backpack for me?"

Without waiting for a reply, I took Naminé's hand, ignoring her squeak of surprise, and dragged her to the most secure place I could think of at the time.

"Roxas—Roxy, sorry—the bathroom?"

I blanched, only now realizing what the 'most secure place' entailed of. In all the time that I had been at the school, I had avoided this room with a passion, managing to go through each school day without using the faculties provided. This was my first time in here, and I almost forgot my reason for dragging Naminé away as I cast my gaze around the room curiously. "Yours is bigger than ours…." I couldn't help myself from muttering it, and I had to ignore the giggle Naminé gave me as a response.

"So I've heard. Smells better too, doesn't it?"

Chatting about how much worse the boy's bathroom was compared to the girl's probably wasn't an exceptionally inconspicuous thing we could have done, but it didn't seem to matter. Even us running into here didn't attract any attention. Apparently, the girl's bathroom is a congregation place for the teenage cliques, and racing into here in a panic was normal, judging by the lack of reactions. No one even so much as _looked _at us, which was probably a good thing.

Catching onto the last part of her comment, I cast Naminé a sidelong glance, rolling my eyes at the innocent look but smiling in confirmation. I opened my mouth to speak, paused as I was distracted by sudden laughter, causing my eyes to flicker away for a second—_oh my god, that girl's stripping._

Seconds later found us out in another hall, looking into classrooms to see which ones were empty. I was still recovering from my initial shock as Naminé attempted to hold back giggles—and was failing. "What was—you guys do strip shows in the bathroom every day or something?" I managed to ask, cheeks still warm. She laughed, but deigned to reply as she let out a short cry of triumph; she must have finally found an empty classroom.

A quick glance proved me right, and we hustled in, pushing the door back until it almost closed, but not quite. "If we're going to talk, it's going to have to be quick," Naminé said, moving to the back wall. I nodded, following after her.

"About fifteen minutes until lunch is over, right? Which one talks first?"

"I will," she said. And then hesitated. "It's about Riku." I nodded again, but remained silent, choosing to trace circles over a nearby desk with my fingertip instead of interrupting her "I think I like him, but it's… odd."

The frown appeared without any further resistance from me. Once again, I had _thought _as much, but hearing her say it made my stomach twist. "I thought as much. You look at him like you do. Have you even talked to him though?" I could feel the jealousy creeping into my tone, and tried to force it down. This was _Naminé _we were talking about. As in, the girl I had been friends with since we were both in diapers. I'd give up Riku in an instant rather than lose her.

Holy hell. Why did I have the feeling that at the end of all this, I wouldn't have a scrap of dignity left in my name?

She shook her head. A blush tinged her cheeks slightly, and she worried at her lip thoughtfully. "No, I haven't. Even still, it's like… this feeling I can't explain. Just looking at him makes me happy, you know?" Then she laughed slightly, though there was something off in the tone. "Of course you know. You have the same look in your eyes when you see him as I do, I think. Not that I can see what I look like when I see him," she corrected herself.

"… Weird," I finally uttered. She nodded, at just as much of a loss as I was. "… Does this mean that we have similar taste in men, or should I be digging for deeper meanings or something?"

She laughed again, rolling her eyes, but abruptly cut off as a chuckle reached both of our years. I felt myself freeze from the idea of someone hearing everything. What if…? "So this is where you two girls went off to. Is that _really _how they got you here? You crushed on a boy and they used that to reel you in?"

I exhaled, but I wasn't sure if I was supposed to be relieved as I turned to face the smirking redhead. "I don't recall ever saying that," I replied calmly, though I knew it didn't convince him in the least. Instead he all but ignored me, letting out a wolf whistle as he strolled over to us, the smirk growing.

"Cross dressing and a crush on a boy when you're surrounded by pretty girls. Have to say, Roxy," an eyebrow cocked as he paused meaningfully, "this isn't looking too good for you."

"Shut up." I frowned in response, realizing too late that I had all but confirmed his words when I didn't argue. Hastily, I added, "What are you doing here? I thought you had another project that you were working on."

A stifled laugh that showed my effort to change the subject was less than unnoticed. "I did, but I finished it and came back to annoy my favorite people, of course. What else would I do anything?"

Of course he wouldn't bother to just outright say what he was here for. That wouldn't be amusing enough for him, after all. "Attention hog."

He shrugged, the action almost mocking. Sometimes I wondered if he did it just to irritate me. "Can't just let you boring people push me out of the spotlight, now can I? Teasing aside though." Here his smile slipped off, all seriousness. "Naminé, which twin are you?"

Naminé seemed momentarily confused, but she replied, "Kairi's light, I'm dark. Why?"

"You said that there was something odd about it?"

My cheeks flared. "You've been listening that long?"

Eyes flicking over to me for a second, his lips curved up into a small smirk. "You two really should be more careful. Anyone could have been eavesdropping on your little conversation. Wouldn't want to make a fool out of yourselves, would you?"

I gritted my teeth, crossed my arms, and looked away, refusing to respond. For all the condescension in that tone, he had a point. It could have been anyone.

"We'll close the door next time," Naminé promised, taking the moral high ground that I had refused. "I just…" she paused, "It doesn't make sense. I just look at him and feel this… connection. That isn't normal."

"What, not a fan of love at first sight?" She blinked at him, and he chuckled, shaking his head. "Alright, I get it, don't give me that look. Come on, think about it. Don't you two find it strange that _both _of you immediately gravitated to him? You didn't even know who he was, and yet here you are, whispering over him like lovestruck girls."

I frowned. When it was just me, it was easy to write off just by mentioning hormones. Add in Naminé immediately having that same attraction, however…. "It _is_ weird," I conceded, a glance with Naminé's troubled expression telling me she thought the same thing.

"You don't think it's connected to our powers and the legend, do you?" she asked. The question was aimed at Axel, not me, and he merely shrugged.

"Or you two have the same taste in men and it's just a coincidence. Who knows? It's not like I'm an expert on this. You might want to keep it in mind though, just in case boy wonder turns out to be something other than what he says he is."

I nodded, ignoring the churning feeling of discontent in my gut. That was the last thing I wanted. I could have handled it if he were the spy, even if it would have upset me beyond reason, but to have my feelings suspect to manipulation was a step too far for me.

Mentally shaking myself, I changed the subject. "I talked to Larxene and Marluxia earlier today. They said to tell you that Xemnas is here. Does that mean anything to you?"

Axel's eyes widened, then narrowed as he looked away. A rueful grimace flickered over his features and he folded his arms over his chest, his fist clenching tightly before releasing. "Yeah, it does. Did they say anything else?"

"Only that you would tell us what's going on."

If I hadn't been interested in who he was before, I definitely was now from watching Axel's reaction. While Axel hadn't been anything near restrained with his emotions before, all of those previous moments were nothing like what I was seeing now, Axel visibly reigning himself back in.

Finally, he sighed, expression fading into one more subdued. "Xemnas is bad news. Marluxia, Larxene and I ran into him a few years ago, when we first learned about the legend. In a nutshell? Xemnas is the current incarnation of Xehanort, which, if you remember, is the guy who wants all of us dead. If you need more information than that to figure out that this isn't good…."

He trailed off, eyebrow raised meaningfully. I swallowed tightly, the faintest echo of fear coursing through me before quelling. "What does he really want? Why is he doing all this?"

"Hell if I know." Axel shrugged again, suddenly back at ease. "All I know is, the sooner we destroy him, the sooner everything can go back to normal."

"Aren't you forgetting something, Axel?"

The reaction to the new voice in the room was instantaneous. Naminé and I jumped, my fist clenching as I tried to place the unfamiliar sound to a person, Naminé spinning to face the man that had walked in at just the wrong time. Nothing would have prepared me for the unadulterated _hatred _that Axel's face suddenly contained. Teeth bared in a snarl, Axel turned at the same time I did, and I mentally prepared myself for anything to go wrong.

Axel knew this intruder, and if that was his reaction, then this could only be bad news.

This man was taller than Axel, though only by a little bit. The soft blue hair should have been the first thing I noticed, but instead, it was the eerie golden eyes, calm and unyielding. By themselves, they should have been soothing at the best, disconcerting at the worst, but then my eyes caught on the pink scar tissue settled between those eyes, and for a few seconds, the only thing I could focus on was the _x _permanently etched onto the man's face.

Then he spoke again, and I ripped my attention from the scar in order to actually listen to what was being said. "You always were one to leave out the most important details." A cold, calculating smile wound its way onto his lips, and I had to force back a shiver at how undeniably _feral _he looked. There was no way this man was on our side. "Some things really don't change."

Axel tensed, and immediately I felt myself begin to move in response—whether to hold Axel back, or to help him, I didn't know. An arm reached out to block me from doing anything more, and I gave a start, eyes immediately leaving the blue haired man to stare imploringly at the owner of the arm. Axel's eyes didn't meet mine, and instead, his entire body relaxed, twisting to fully face the scarred man. "It's been a long time, Saïx," Axel greeted him, his lips twisting wryly. Though the words were something you'd expect from two old friends, there was nothing but ice in his tone. "I should have known that you were involved in this too."

Saïx's head inclined slightly, acknowledging his words. For a few moments, the two surveyed each other, and even though the conversation so far had been pleasant, it was clear that they were thinking of the best way to rip the other apart.

Finally, Saïx broke the uneasy silence. "We have your friend, the water user, and we would be willing broker an exchange. The boy is unharmed," here, the cordial expression turned mocking. "Though I can't promise he will remain that way if you don't cooperate."

My head felt vaguely like it had been dumped in ice water, and I found myself a little nauseous. _This _was one of the people who had taken Demyx. If they had hurt him-

"Give him back!" I shouted, attempting to move forward once more, though this time the intent was much more clear. I'd _beat_ the information out of him if I had to.

The same arm that blocked me before now pushed me back, much harsher this time, and I fell onto Naminé. As her thin arms supported me and stopped us from falling down, I heard Axel growl, "Stay. Back."

He left no room for argument, but I tried anyways. "Axel-"

"Roxanne, I know. Just shut up for once and stay back." I fell silent, sending Saïx a withering glare. The blue haired man had watched the exchange with something like amused derision written on his face, but he said nothing, instead letting Axel respond to his previous words. Axel didn't disappoint him. "What do you want?"

"The twins."

"Not happening."

Saïx raised an eyebrow and Axel scoffed. "To be honest, I don't give a damn about the kid, but even if I did, we couldn't make that deal. We don't even know who the twins _are. _Sorry Saïx, but you're out of luck."

"Axel!" Naminé sounded horrified, but said no more. I glanced at her, she shook my arm lightly, and immediately I caught on. We had to go along with this lie still, even if it meant giving up this one chance we had of getting Demyx back.

Saïx was all too prepared to call Axel's bluff, and I forced myself to stay calm as he shook his head. "If you didn't know, then you wouldn't be here. You and your two _friends_," his lip curled derisively at the word, "came from almost a thousand miles away, just to find the twins. If they weren't here, you wouldn't have stayed. Not to mention you seem particularly protective of the two behind you." Gold eyes moved to rest on Naminé and I, and we froze. "I can't imagine that it's because you're fond of them."

Was he insinuating what I thought he was?

Apparently Axel thought the same thing I did, and he laughed, the sound more condescending than anything else. "You think that these two are one of the sets? You really _haven't _been paying much attention to the people at this place, have you?"

Saïx frowned. "What are you saying?"

"What I'm _saying _is that you're wrong." Saïx opened his mouth to object, but Axel didn't let him. "Yeah, these two are twins, you got that much right, but you wanna know who the other twins are here? They're a boy and a girl, _not_ two boys. And no, there are no others in this district."

Saïx fell silent, and his eyes swept to mine. "You. Is this true?"

Something close to a gasp ripped out of my suddenly pressured throat as he looked at me. What the hell _was _that? Just him looking at me like that made me feel like my heart was going to rip itself out of my chest. "I-it's true," I finally managed, though the feeling didn't cease. He was doing it, I realized—his eyes didn't leave mine, and even though I had responded, it was getting worse, even simple breathing becoming harder and harder to keep a hold of. _What the hell is this?!_

I hadn't even realized that I had said those last thoughts out loud until I was pushed and pulled backward at the same time, Axel moving in front of me protectively as Naminé drew me back. The spell was broken immediately as eye contact was lost; the constricting magic vanished, leaving me clutching my chest and gasping for air. "Roxas! Are you okay?" The concern was clear in Naminé's tone, but thankfully she was able to remember to keep her voice down as she forgot about my cover. _She'll really have to be more careful about that in the future_, I thought dimly, mind unsteady from the pain.

When I took too long to respond, Axel glanced back. Wordlessly, I nodded, belatedly realizing that those few seconds were enough to cause me to break out in a cold sweat. I was lucky that they caught on, because if they hadn't, I'm not sure what would have happened. He nodded back and turned back around as Naminé released me to dig through the desk next to her, glancing at me when I had to prop myself up against a different desk.

"She's not part of this, Saïx! Neither of them are, so leave them alone. This is between us." I barely caught Axel's words as I watched Naminé take a pencil out of the desk, not even pausing as she began scribbling on the desk.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I murmured to her, as quietly as possible. She looked up momentarily.

"Do you have a better plan?"

She had a point. I moved in front of her, a little wobbly but overall stable, effectively blocking her from Saïx's view, and I looked between him and Axel, careful to avoid his eyes. At this rate, we were at a standstill—by lying to him, we were effectively saying that we had nothing to barter with, nothing they wanted… so why was he still here?

Axel seemed to have the same thought that I did. "Well?" He asked impatiently, tapping a finger on the desk in front of him, "We already told you we don't have the twins. Don't you have some evildoing to get to or something?"

His eyes were slightly unfocused, gaze flickering around to catch a glimpse of Naminé, and I momentarily panicked. "Hey, is that what made you look like a Keebler elf or something? No wonder everyone says being the bad guy doesn't pay off, if all you get is a makeover like that."

_That_ distracted him, Axel's startled chortles only adding insult to injury. I wasn't smart enough to look away when his gaze snapped back to me, almost snarling, and I cringed, mentally preparing myself for a repeat of what happened before—

He disappeared, not even a trace of him left behind, and Naminé let out a small cry of triumph as I slouched in relief. "Did it," she said, sighing in relief. "You gave me just enough time."

The drawing was crude but effective, and I stifled a laugh as I traced a finger over the unfamiliar lines. Given a piece of paper and a normal pencil instead of a half-broken one, Naminé never would have drawn something so garish, but at least it worked.

"A Keebler elf, blondie? Really?" Axel was still amused by that, at least, and I shrugged.

"It was the first thing I could think of." I glanced back down at the desk, noticing something peculiar this time around. "Saïx isn't in the picture like the Nobodies that you got rid of were the last time you did this," I noticed, examining the picture closely.

Naminé bit her lip. "When I store them in the paper, it effectively writes them out of existence. I can't do that with a real person—and even if I could, I wouldn't." She gave Axel a pointed look, and he raised his hands up defensively, though he seemed amused. "I have to send them elsewhere, and just thinking 'anywhere but here' doesn't work."

Nodding my comprehension, I asked, "So where'd you send him to?"

Naminé paused. "Peru."

"… Peru?"

"Yes. Peru. Or Iceland. I got confused for a moment."

Axel whistled. "Poor Peru."

For a second, we all took a collective breath, adrenaline winding down. That, I marveled, was my first encounter with an actual person who probably wanted us dead. Suddenly, even thinking past all of the Heartless and Nobodies that we had already fought, past Demyx being kidnapped, this whole debacle actually felt _real_, and I felt a slight chill run down my spine.

Axel was the first to speak up. "And once again, your cross-dressing tendencies save the day. Alright, this is the last time I tease you about it."

I scoffed. "I doubt that. Who was that? Do you two know each other?"

A strange look flitted over his face, gone before I could figure out what it was. "Saïx works for Xemnas—Marluxia, Larxene and I ran into him when we first found out about the legend, and the first time that we found out who Xemnas was. I didn't know he was still around…." he trailed off musingly.

"Do you—" Naminé squeaked in surprise, cutting off abruptly and twisting to look behind her, and I jumped, adrenaline obviously not quite as worn off as I thought it was. When she turned back around, Fred was cradled in her hands, the little blob blinking innocently at us. "Roxas? Didn't you leave Fred in the cafeteria with Sora?"

I frowned down at him, though I lifted my hand when he reached out to try to crawl onto me. "Yeah, I did. How did you get here?" I glanced around the room, trying to locate just where he would come from, or at least how he would have been able to get here on his own, to no avail.

"What _is _that thing?" Axel's tone was entirely incredulous, and I sighed. Explaining this was really getting old.

"Not a Heartless, if that's what you're thinking. I made him—I think I did, at least. He showed up randomly in P.E. today."

Axel stared down at him. Fred grinned, waving a tendril-esque arm.

"… Whatever you say, man. Just make sure he doesn't get you into trouble or something," he started to say before being interrupted by the bell. I groaned.

"Crap. There goes lunch."

* * *

I ran into class five minutes late, head down to avoid the stares and Mr. Strife's scowl. Zexion raised an eyebrow at me as I sat next to him and I shook my head, still unsettled from what happened during the lunch period. From Saïx showing up, his connection to Axel, Xemnas… it was a lot to process, and none of it was suitable for talking about during school hours. I'd have to tell him about what happened after class, when there were less people around.

Fifth period passed by like a blur. Without Demyx there to lighten the mood that the surly Mr. Strife gave off, no one dared to say anything. Not that I wanted to, a sentiment that Zexion seemed to share as he read through the textbook resolutely. It didn't even seem like he blinked as he sifted through the pages, leading me to wonder whether he was actually reading it, or if his mind was drifting elsewhere and the reading was a pretense. As always, his black leather journal was set next to him, and once again I was hit by curiosity as I wondered just what was so important about that book.

Sixth period, I decided to ask, safely hidden in the back of the room with him and Miss Gainsborough's writing assignment almost complete.

"What is that anyways? I never see you without it," I asked without preamble, pointing to the journal next to him. He glanced up from his own assignment, lip quirking slightly as he caught on to what I was asking.

"This?" He tapped the cover, only continuing when I nodded. "Everything I know about the legend, both that which is ongoing now and the one thousands of years past, is detailed in here. The more information I add, the stronger it gets."

I furrowed my brows. "Stronger? What do you mean?"

"The book is effectively my weapon, so to speak—similar to your keyblade, in that it holds some of my power."

I opened my mouth to ask another question, but quieted down when Miss Gainsborough sent me a quick reprimanding look. No matter how many questions I had, in class definitely wasn't the time or place to ask them.

After class, we met up with Sora and made it to the final class of the day. For all the excitement the last two periods lacked, this one made up for it in spades—of course, with Yuffie as the teacher, it shouldn't have been that surprising, but there was almost no predicting the train wreck that was on its way.

When we walked in the room, we had to duck to avoid a whooping Yuffie as she flew over our heads, landing in a head to our side. A look at the other side of the room showed that she had launched herself off her desk, caught onto one of the hanging decorations on the ceiling, and used that as a swing to make it to the other side of the room. Figures. How did she manage to not get fired?

"Well!" She straightened, looking between the three of us, "I see you guys are in top shape!"

Sora grinned, thumping his chest once in response. "Of course we are! What do you have for us today, oh great ninja Yuffie?"

Thank god Sora's fluent in Yuffie-speak, because there's no way I could keep up with her.

"Only the best love story of all time! That's right, class," she raised her voice, as if they weren't able to hear her before, "We're reading Romeo and Juliet!"

There was a chorus of groans and cheers, Sora seeming especially thrilled—though when Yuffie wasn't looking, he stuck his tongue out at me, an over-dramatic display of disgust. I bit back a laugh. He was probably only cheering because Yuffie was so enthusiastic.

"C'mon, Roxy, aren't you excited?" He asked expectantly, eyes sparkling as he kept his tone innocent. I snorted.

"Don't look at me. I hate Romeo and Juliet."

Immediately I regretted my words as Yuffie stared at me. Gleeful mischief all over her face, she grabbed my hand, raising it into the air. "And we have our first reader! Roxy will be Romeo!"

Well. I didn't know if that was tragic or just humiliating.

"She's a chick though!"

Yuffie zeroed in on the perpetrator, and I had to stop myself from snickering as she dragged him out to the front. I recognized him immediately—he hung out with Olette all the time and always managed to have these weird camo pants. Too bad those didn't work on Yuffie. "Thanks for volunteering, Hayner! You get to be Juliet!"

Hayner began sputtering as the rest of the class burst into laughter. If Hayner was anything, it wasn't Juliet.

"But—this is unethical!"

Yuffie grinned. "Aw, Haney, I'm so proud of you! I didn't know you knew such big words."

She ruffled his hair and he batted the hand away, grumbling under his breath but no longer outright protesting. Another student, smart enough to hide in the back of the crowd so that she couldn't be seen—coward—called out, "Romeo and Juliet don't have a scene together until act two!"

Yuffie tilted her head to the side and tapped a finger on her chin, deep in thought. This was one time that I would go with the clichés and hope to whatever higher power there was that she got lost in the unfamiliar territory. "Really? … Oh well!" She clapped her hands and darted to a pile of books that I had missed earlier. "I really only wanted to read the balcony scene anyways, so it doesn't matter!"

I sighed. I should have known there was no way of getting out of this. I moved to sit down, only to have Yuffie bounce back over and rap me on the head with one of the paperbacks. Scowling, I gave a muttered "ow", and the book was forced into my hands as she pulled me back up.

"Nope! You guys have to act out the scene!" She declared.

… Because I was mistaken and this was really acting class. Right. Just how did this school actually manage to get any teaching done?

Rather than argue, Hayner and I walked to the front of the class. While I stalled for time by pretending to not be able to find the page, Hayner seemed genuinely confused, scowling and muttering under his breath as he flipped the book around. When Yuffie pointed to me, then Hayner, I shrugged; there was no way I was going to bring on this idiocy if I could avoid it.

Unfortunately, even Hayner couldn't prolong the even for long, and he read his one line, falsetto shrill and ridiculous as it echoed through the room, "_Ay me_!"

Yuffie fell out of her chair in shock.

The rest of the class burst into laughter.

I bit my lip, keeping my own amusement down. Actually reading it was a nightmare, and not one I had wanted to indulge in. Looking at Hayner and his half-sheepish, half-amused grin, though—I could work with a parody.

"She speaks."

I'd been worried about mimicking a man's voice when it's only natural for me, but now I made my tone as low as possible while still passing as a girl's, the result just as ridiculous as Hayner's voice was. More laughter followed the line, and I bit back a smirk. I may just escape this unscathed.

I started once more.** "**O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head. As is a winged messenger of heaven unto the white-upturned wondering eyes—"

I stopped. Stared at the lines. Looked back up at Hayner. "What?"

Yuffie hushed me, and Hayner—

Hayner _fluttered his eyelashes._ Alright, we'll go for escaping this _relatively _unscathed, because there's no way I could unsee that.

I finished reading out my line and Hayner picked it up without missing a beat, maintaining the shrill voice he had procured as he strutted across the floor. "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer—"

With a yell that was far from the falsetto he was using, he tripped, grabbing the closest person for balance—me. Or, to be more precise, my shirt. I watched in what felt like slo-mo horror as he grasped the collar of my button-up shirt, and I tried and failed to hold him up as he continued falling. The buttons, under too much strain, popped open, and because the world hates me, he managed to snap the flimsy fake bra that Kairi had given me as well.

Oh shit.

Pushed back by Hayner's fall, I plummeted to the ground, Hayner only a second behind me. In an instant he was back up, cheeks a brilliant red and eyes wide with mortification. "Shit, I'm so sorry, Roxy-" As his mind caught up with the image in front of him, he stopped short and merely stared. I blinked back, frown firmly etched on my face as I glanced down at my all too male chest. "Shit," he uttered again, this time the tone so completely dumbfounded that I almost found it amusing.

"Shit, indeed," I agreed, no longer bothering with the falsetto, too startled to do anything other than sit there.

"What's going on? Are you guys okay?" Yuffie bounced over to us, voice more concerned than I had expected, and her words cut off the second that she looked at me. Instead of looking at her to gauge her reaction, I glanced over to Sora and Zexion, ignoring all the other faces. Sora's had turned a solid shade of white, mimicking the panic I was trying and failing to suppress. And Zexion… even with his normally nonchalant expression in place, he looked like he was about to be sick, and frankly, I almost wished he would be. At least then the eyes would be on him and not on me.

"You're a _guy?!" _My eyes snapped back to the gaping Yuffie. She frowned, then then seconds later she grinned, the sheer brilliance of the look giving me whiplash. "So you're a perfect Romeo after all!"

With that, my last nerve snapped. Burying my face in my hands, I groaned, the sound long and defeated, as the classroom burst into chaos.

This was officially the week from hell.


End file.
